Dr. Anthony Fauci has a grim prediction about American coronavirus death toll

'We're going to have millions of cases'

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

by Chris Enloe

March 29, 2020

Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that the United States coronavirus death toll may be counted in the hundreds of thousands.

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Fauci, who has become a face of the U.S. COVID-19 response, predicted that millions of Americans will become sick with the virus and between 100,000 to 200,000 Americans will die.

"I mean, looking at what we're seeing now, I would say between 100,000 and 200,000 [deaths]," Fauci said.

"We're going to have millions of cases," he added.

Regarding worst-case scenario predictions that more than 1 million Americans could die from COVID-19, Fauci said, "It's not impossible, but very, very unlikely."

There have been nearly 2,500 COVID-19 deaths and more than 138,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. as of Sunday afternoon.

The U.S. epicenter for the virus is New York City, but cases are exploding in New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, California, and Massachusetts.

President Donald Trump said last week that he would like to reopen the country by Easter. But with exponential growth in COVID-19 cases and deaths, Fauci said that will likely not happen.

"We will take it as it comes. We will look at it. And if we need to push the date forward, we will push the date forward," Fauci said.