On Sunday, a leading national infectious disease expert said there would be millions of COVID-19 cases in the US, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths.
Anthony Fauci, who appeared on CNN's State of the Union, said he never saw an outbreak following the worst-case scenario predicted in disease models.
But he offered his own estimates of the incidence of coronavirus in the United States.
“I mean, looking at what we are seeing now, I would say 100,000 to 200,000 cases,” Fauci said, but corrected himself by saying that he meant deaths.
The US surpassed Italy and China to become the world's largest COVID-19 outbreak on Thursday. As of Sunday morning, more than 125,000 cases of infection have been confirmed in the country.
“We will have millions of infected people,” Fauci said.
To date, the disease has killed more than 2,100 people in the United States, and the death toll has doubled in just two days.
The country's leader is New York State, where more than 53,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus. Hospitals in New York City lack space and protection.
The city has built a makeshift morgue to deal with the rise in deaths, and Mayor Bill de Blasio has warned that half of New Yorkers are likely to be infected.
“We have a serious problem in New York, we have a serious problem in New Orleans, and we predict serious problems in other areas,” Fauci said.
This article is published by Business Insider.
Sources: Photo: (CDC)
