Former Food and Drug Administration Commission Scott Gottlieb says coronavirus hot spots such as Texas and Florida will like hit the apex of their outbreaks in a few weeks.
However, unlike in New York, he predicts that there will be a slow decline in the number of new cases.
“I think the apex in the epidemic states right now, the center of the epidemic, which is California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida, could be two to three weeks away,” Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb also noted that there is “some slowing in the new cases.” Still, he cautioned, “It’s not clear whether or not the new cases are actually slowing or these states are just hitting the upper limit of their testing capacity.”
“Arizona certainly seems to be hitting the upper limit of its testing capacity,” he added.
Watch the video below:
.@ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan that the apex of #Covid19 epidemics in hotspots like Florida and Texas “could be two to three weeks away,” but that’s unclear if these states are simply “hitting the peak of their testing capacity.” pic.twitter.com/qjJPEAsvVl
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 19, 2020
He also cautioned that he believes the current epicenters will see an “extended plateau” of new cases once they reach the peak, rather than a “sharp up and a sharp down.”
And while that happens, Gottlieb said it is likely that states such as Georgia could become the new epicenter, “You have to be very worried right now about Georgia, about Tennessee, about Missouri, about Kentucky. We’re seeing record numbers of cases, rising hospitalizations, and really a shifting of the center of the epidemic, potentially, in the United States.”
“And this just portends more trouble for the fall and the winter. That we’re going to be taking a lot of cases in the fall, that we’ll never be able to come down,” he added.
Gottlieb’s comments come as the U.S. has hit new records for daily increases of new coronavirus cases at least nine times in a month.
The latest data finds that there are more than 3.7 million coronavirus cases in the U.S. and more than 140,000 deaths.