Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, D.C., July 31, 2020.
Kevin Dietsch | Pool via Reuters
White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that the number of daily coronavirus cases in the United States is currently “unacceptably high” heading into the fall season.
The U.S. is seeing roughly 40,000 new cases a day, but it needs to bring infections down to 10,000 or less per day, Fauci said during an interview with MSNBC.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the public’s behavior over the Labor Day holiday weekend will determine how the coronavirus spreads in the U.S. through the colder seasons.
“We know from prior experience as you get into the holiday weekend, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, there’s a tendency of people to be careless somewhat with regard to the public health measures,” he said. “I want to use this opportunity to almost have a plea to the people in this country to realize that we really still need to get our arms around this and to suppress these types of surges we’ve seen.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.