Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Tuesday that the coronavirus death toll in the United States is “almost certainly higher” than the reported 80,000 figure and warned of serious consequences if cities and states reopen too quickly.
He told a Senate panel investigating the U.S. response to the pandemic that unaccounted numbers of coronavirus victims, especially in the New York City, have died at home without being officially counted in the national death toll, but declined to speculate how many more.
Fauci warned that it is “entirely possible” that the pandemic “could become worse” in the U.S. in the fall months from September to November, but hoped that by then the country “could deal with it” better than it has so far.
President Donald Trump has been prodding businesses and state governors to reopen the world’s biggest economy and all but a few of the country’s 50 governors have issued orders in recent days to allow some stores, restaurants and offices to resume operations on a limited basis if precautions are taken.
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But Fauci, testifying remotely from his home outside Washington, said there “is a real risk you will trigger an outbreak that you will not be able to control” if government guidelines calling for a steady decline in the number of cases over a two-week period are ignored before there is a return to normal life in the U.S.
“The consequences could be dire,” he added.
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