Fauci: US going in wrong direction -- I would not be surprised at 100K cases a day

Asked how many Covid-19 deaths and infections the US could expect before the pandemic is over, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he couldn't make an "accurate prediction" but it is going to be "very disturbing."

Fauci said that the country is seeing more than 40,000 cases a day, and that he would "not be surprised" if the case count goes up to 100,000 a day if the current trend in cases "doesn't turn around."

Fauci stressed that he could not make an estimation on deaths as those would need to be modeled.

"I think it is important to tell and you the American public that I'm very concerned because it could get very bad," Fauci said.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the US is “going in the wrong direction” as the number of coronavirus cases increase in the country.

Fauci said that while some states have gotten ahold of the virus, he’s very concerned about others where it has spiked. 

“Clearly, we are not in total control right now,” he told Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. 

Fauci said on the news he sees people congregating in crowds, not wearing masks and states jumping over guidelines on reopening. 

“We're going to continue to be in a lot of trouble, and there's going to be a lot of hurt if that does not stop,” he said. 

“I'm very concerned about what's going on right now, particularly in the four states that are accounting for about 50% of the new infections,” Fauci added. Those states are Florida, Texas, California and Arizona.

“I'm not satisfied with what's going on, because we're going in the wrong direction,” Fauci said.

At least 36 states are currently seeing an increase in cases compared to the previous week, according to data from John Hopkins University. At least 11 of those states are seeing a 50% or more increase in cases.

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Asked by Sen. Bernie Sanders about American Airlines' decision to resume booking flights at capacity and not keep middle seats open, Dr. Robert Redfield, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that there was "substantial disappointment" with the airline when the announcement was released.

In a response from the airline industry, Airlines For America President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio told CNN that airlines have a “multi-layered approach” for health and safety of passengers and employees. “

You can’t employ social distancing on an airplane like you can in a grocery store, but frankly I’d rather be on an airplane right now,” Calio said. He foreshadowed that other airlines will change policies when they feel it’s right.

Some background: US airlines had stopped selling middle seats for months, both to ensure social distancing and because of a lack of passengers.

Despite rising Covid-19 cases in at least 36 US states, American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, disclosed Friday that "customers may notice that flights are booked to capacity starting July 1." United Airlines had been willing to sell every possible seat throughout the pandemic.

Both airlines said they would notify passengers when a flight has more than 70% of its seats booked, and allow them to change to a less crowded flight. But that won't necessarily allow passengers with limited flexibility to avoid crowded flights.

On Sunday there were 634,000 people passing through TSA checkpoints at US airports, which was 24% of the traffic on the same day last summer. That's the highest total since late March and is seven times as many people as were screened the low point in mid-April.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the newly identified swine flu, called G4, is “something we need to keep an eye out on.” 

Speaking to the Senate HELP Committee hearing, Fauci said “the Chinese, over the last week or two have identified a virus — in the environment — it has not yet shown to be infecting humans, but it is exhibiting what we call reassortment capability.”

Fauci explained that when several different strains of a virus simultaneously infect the same host, such as a pig, they can exchange genetic information.  

“When they all mix up together, and they contain some of the elements that might make them susceptible to being transmitted to humans, you always have the possibility that you might have another swine flu type outbreak as we had in 2009,” Fauci said.

Fauci said G4 is still in the examination stage — “It’s not so-called, an immediate threat.”  

The G4 virus, which is genetically descended from the H1N1 swine flu that caused the 2009 pandemic, was described in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

Earlier today: The World Health Organization confirmed in an email to CNN on Tuesday that agency officials are carefully reading the new data that has emerged on the swine flu virus.

"Eurasian avian-like swine influenza virus are known to be circulating in the swine population in Asia and to be able to infect humans sporadically. Twice a year during the influenza vaccine composition meetings, all information on the viruses is reviewed and the need for new candidate vaccine viruses is discussed. We will carefully read the paper to understand what is new," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said in the email.

Dr. Robert Redfield, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged that the country is seeing "significant increases" in the southeast and southwest regions. He noted that the number of jurisdictions and upward trajectory has "continued to increase."

Redfield said hospitalizations are going up in 12 states, and as of this weekend, the daily death toll has increased in the state of Arizona. 

According to CNN reporting, the state’s average number of deaths per day has about doubled over the course of June – from just under 20 to just under 40. 

Here is a look at the progression of new confirmed deaths in the state:

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The Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn says he is optimistic about having more than one coronavirus treatments available for adults and older Americans by the fall so there is more confidence in going back to school for not just students but also staff.

He detailed the progress on treatments:

Remdesivir has been authorized based on studies that show it is effective in reducing hospitalization days for Covid-19 patients.

About 20,000 patients have been administered with convalescent plasma as the FDA evaluated its safety and found it to be safe.

The safety data and antibody information that comes out of this plasma study will be passed on to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Dr. Hahn said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is "quite concerned" by the increase in cases in states such as Florida, Texas, California and Arizona, and offered his advice on what states can do to reverse these trends.

Fauci noted that even in states where the leadership opened with the right recommendations, the country saw "clips and photographs of individuals" not wearing masks, not avoiding crowds and not following social distancing guidelines.

"I think we need to emphasize the responsibility that we have both as individuals and as part of a societal effort to end the epidemic that we all have to play a part in," Fauci said.

He added that when you look "at the visuals, what we saw were a lot of people who maybe felt that because they think that they are invulnerable and we know many young people are not, they are getting serious disease, that, therefore, they are getting infected has nothing to do with anyone else and in fact it does."

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Asked what he would tell a school superintendent regarding reopening schools, Dr. Anthony Fauci said it depends on the "dynamics of the outbreak" in the particularly location where the school is.

Fauci said that if a school is in an area where there is a certain amount of "infection dynamics," there are some things that can be "creatively done" including modifying the school's schedule, alternating days, morning versus evening, allowing under certain circumstances, online virtual lessons. 

Fauci stressed the importance of getting children back in schools due the "unintended negative consequences" that occur when they are kept out of school.

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US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield testified that the country's daily cases are increasing after an "extended decline" and urged the population, especially young people, to follow CDC guidelines.

Redfield said evidence shows that the increase in cases in some US states are driven by many factors including increased testing, community transmission and outbreaks in the settings such as nursing homes and occupational settings. 

Redfield said the CDC is closely monitoring increases in Covid-19 and have 48 teams with more than 140 staff currently deployed in 20 states and two territories. 

He added that the CDC is speaking with states, tribal, local and territorial health departments on a daily basis to develop strategies to stop the virus while reopening businesses and schools.

At least 16 US states have paused their reopening plans as new cases in at least 36 states are trending upward compared to the previous week.