Fauci says U.S. coronavirus outbreak is ‘going to be very

The U.S. is “not in total control” of the coronavirus pandemic and daily new cases could surpass 100,000 new infections per day if the outbreak continues at its current pace, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

The country is now reporting nearly 40,000 new coronavirus cases every day — almost double from about 22,800 in mid-May — driven largely by outbreaks in a number of states across the South and West. Fauci said about 50% of all new cases are coming from four states: Florida, California, Texas and Arizona.

“I can’t make an accurate prediction but it’s going to be very disturbing,” Fauci told senators in a hearing held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “We are now having 40-plus-thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around, and so I am very concerned.”

The number of new cases reported each day in the U.S. is now outpacing April, when the virus rocked Washington state and parts of the Northeast, especially the New York City metropolitan area. 

The U.S. averaged 39,750 new cases per day over the past seven days as of Monday, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That average has risen by more than 40% compared with a week ago. As of Tuesday morning, the seven-day average of daily new cases reported rose by more than 5% week over week in 40 states, according to the data. 

Fauci’s comments came in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who asked whether the U.S. is heading in the right direction in terms of controlling the outbreak.

“Well I think the numbers speak for themselves,” Fauci said. “I’m very concerned and I’m not satisfied with what’s going on because we’re going in the wrong direction if you look at the curves of the new cases, so we really have got to do something about that and we need to do it quickly.”

Outbreaks in states like Florida and Texas also threaten to disrupt the progress states like New York and New Jersey have so far made in driving down the outbreak in the Northeast, Fauci said. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut last week announced they would mandate 14-day quarantines for any travelers coming from a states with rapidly expanding outbreaks. Nonetheless, Fauci said increased infection anywhere in the country threatens to spread everywhere.

“I guarantee you that because when you have an outbreak in one part of the country, even though in other parts of the country they’re doing well, they are vulnerable,” Fauci said. “I made that point very clearly last week at a press conference. We can’t just focus on those areas that are having a surge, it puts the entire country at risk.”

The outbreaks might be partly driven by states that reopened too soon and might have disregarded some of the federal guidance meant to help states restart safely, Fauci said.

“We’ve got to make sure that when states start to try to open again, they…