In sobering testimony this morning before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the United States could soon see 100,000 new COVID-19 cases per day.
The country has seen an average of nearly 40,000 new cases a day over the past week. Fauci attributes half of this spike has been concentrated in four states: Arizona, California, Florida and Texas. The latter three states are the most populous in the Union and has prompted New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to require visitors from these states to quarantine.
Fauci's testimony did not impress Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul who chided him for creating "undue fear". Paul proclaimed, "We just need more optimism."
What Paul means by optimism is optimism about President Trump being re-elected and Republicans retaining control of the Senate. Whatever Paul's definition of optimism there is a difference between optimism and wishful thinking.
Naturally I hope Dr. Fauci is incorrect in his assessment, but the fact is things are getting worse in this country with regard to COVID-19. Absent better testing, better contract tracing, better social distancing measures and not trying to make wearing a mask a political issue things will continue to get worse before they get better.
Let's suppose we don't see 100,000 new COVID-19 cases a day. If we were to consistently record 75,000 new cases a day we would soon reach a point where nearly every American family would have a member affected by COVID-19. If we see a surge in new cases then a surge of deaths is sure to follow.
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