Dr. Fauci slams federal government's COVID-19 response and says it's 'not doing great' as Texas, Arizona and Florida post record daily fatalities and experts predict another 15,000 people will lose their lives before August

Dr Anthony Fauci slammed the federal government's response to COVID-19 on Thursday, saying the country is not doing great after Texas, Arizona and Florida posted record daily fatalities as experts predict that another 15,000 people will lose their lives before August. 

During an interview with FiveThirtyEight, Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and leader of the White House coronavirus task force, said of the country: 'I don't think you can say we're doing great.'

He then explained what he meant by that statement: 'Well, let me say there are parts of the United States, like where you live right now [in New York], that are doing really well, that you've been through something really bad and you have things under control

'And you have a governor and mayor in the city who understand what it means to go by the guidelines for the gateway: phase one, phase two, phase three. So you're doing well,' Fauci said, referring to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov Andrew Cuomo. 

'Other cities are doing well,' Fauci continued. 'But as a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don't think you can say we're doing great. I mean, we're just not.' 

Fauci then went on to talk about the government's approach to suppress the deadly virus. 

+6

Dr Anthony Fauci slammed the federal government's response to COVID-19 on Thursday, saying the country is not doing great after Texas, Arizona and Florida posted record daily fatalities 

'We live, I mean, you have to be having blindfolds on and covering your ears to think that we don't live in a very divisive society now, from a political standpoint,' Fauci admitted.

'So I think you'd have to make the assumption that if there wasn't such divisiveness, that we would have a more coordinated approach.'

On Monday, Fauci said in a Twitter livestream that 'the current state is really not good'.

'We are still knee-deep in the first wave of COVID-19 infections,' he said. 

But the next day, President Donald Trump said he disagreed with Fauci's assessment on the dire situation the US faces as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to spread.

Trump, speaking Tuesday in an interview on Full Court Press, said that he thinks 'we are in a good place,' before adding, 'I disagree with him.'

'Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks, now he says wear them,' he continued, adding that the immunologist has 'said numerous things' that according to Trump was bad advice. 

'He's said numerous things - don't close off China, don't ban China, and I did it anyway. I didn't listen to my experts and I banned China. We would have been in much worse state,' Trump continued. 

'You wouldn't believe. The number of deaths more we would have if we didn't do the ban, and then we banned Europe also when Italy and the various countries were in such trouble.

'So we've done a good job. I think we are going to be in two, three, four weeks, by the time we next speak, I think we are going to be in very good shape,' Trump added.

But Fauci's recent statements came on a day that the US saw 60,565 new cases in a single day. 

Thursday marked the second day in a row infections have risen by at least 60,000, according to a Reuters tally.

For a third day in a row, US deaths climbed by more than 800, the highest levels seen since early June, according to the tally. 

According to US News & World Report, Nicholas Reich, an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, helped curate an ensemble model that forecasts that about 15,000 more Americans will die from the coronavirus pandemic between now and August 1. 

That grim prediction came as Florida reported a record increase of 120 deaths and California had 136 new fatalities, not far from a record of 149 set the previous day, according to the tally.

With California, Florida and Texas recently breaking records, hopes are fading for an economic rival and US stocks closed down about 1 per cent as investors worry another lockdown will cripple businesses.

+6

Fauci made the statements on Thursday when the US saw 60,565 new cases in a single day. A man gets tested in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday 

+6

Thursday marked the second day in a row infections have risen by at least 60,000, according to a Reuters tally. People are seen walking through Disney Springs on Wednesday 

+6

For a third day in a row, US deaths climbed by more than 800, the highest levels seen since early June, according to the tally. A woman is seen carrying shopping bags in downtown Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday 

Even outside the nation's three most populous states, cases are rising. 

Alabama, Montana and Wisconsin recorded their biggest one-day rise in cases ever on Thursday. 

Infections are increasing in 41 out of 50 states, according to a Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks.

The previous record was on Wednesday when cases rose by 60,541 in a single day.

The US has reported more than 3.1 million cases total and over 133,000 deaths from the virus, making some Americans hesitant to return to public spaces and patronize businesses despite Trump's efforts to downplay the risks.

On Wednesday, Fauci encouraged states that are experiencing a surge in coronavirus to consider shutting down.  

Speaking on a Wall Street Journal podcast, Fauci said the troubling spikes are a result of local governments ignoring health guidelines in an eager 'quest' to reopen the economy. 

He refused to put blame on states that are seeing surges after they rushed to reopen such as Florida and Texas, but said there has been 'admission from within'.

'Some states went too fast, [and] some states went by according to what the timetable was, but the people in the state didn't listen,' he said. 

'Any state that is having a serious problem, that state should seriously look at shutting down. It's not for me to say because each state is different,' he added. 

He encouraged local governments to 'tighten things up' by closing bars and indoor dining at restaurants, and to ensure customer seating is safely spread apart.  

'Make sure people wear masks, make sure they don't congregate in crowds, make sure they keep their distance,' he added. 

In Arizona, Gov Doug Ducey is ordering restaurants to work at half of their capacity, but he has declined to shut them down entirely.

The governor also said Thursday the state will increase testing with a focus on low-income areas of Phoenix as many people report it hard or impossible to find tests.

Arizona continues to report record highs for hospitalizations and use of ventilators. 

After a drop in the number of new cases in the early part of the week, they shot back above 4,000 on Thursday.

Officials reported 75 additional deaths, increasing the state's total to 2,038. The additional 4,057 confirmed cases reported Thursday brought the total to 112,671.

In Texas, officials canceled the Texas Republican Party's in-person convention, saying the spread of the coronavirus made it impossible to hold the event as scheduled.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city's lawyers exercised provisions in the contract that the Texas GOP signed to rent the downtown convention center for a three-day event to have started July 16, with committee meetings earlier in the week.

Turner, a Democrat, previously resisted calls to cancel the convention and insisted Wednesday that his decision wasn't driven by politics.

'The public health concerns outweighed anything else,' Turner said.

Texas hit a new high for coronavirus deaths in a single day and Gov Greg Abbott says the numbers next week may be even worse.

The 105 new deaths reported Thursday makes this the deadliest week of the pandemic in what has rapidly become one of America's virus hot zones. 

Texas reported a new high for hospitalizations for the 10th consecutive day.

Abbott moved to free up more hospital beds by banning elective medical procedures in hospitals that serve more than 100 counties in Texas. 

+6

The US has reported more than 3.1 million cases total and over 133,000 deaths from the virus, making some Americans hesitant to return to public spaces and patronize businesses despite President Donald Trump's efforts to downplay the risks

There are now more than 9,600 coronavirus patients in Texas hospitals, twice as many as just two weeks ago.

Abbott said he thinks 'the numbers are going to look worse as we go into next week'.

Austin is turning its convention center into a field hospital.

And in Houston, a growing number of people are dying at home before the paramedics even arrive, which is very similar to what happened to New York when the virus rapidly started to spread in March and April. 

Florida health officials reported 120 new deaths from the coronavirus, the highest one-day increase amid a surge in new infections.

The number of deaths announced Thursday was the highest since the 113 reported in early May.

The total confirmed death toll has surpassed 4,000. New confirmed infections increased by nearly 9,000 to more than 229,000.

The seven-day average for deaths is about 56 per day, up from about 31 three weeks ago. It's approaching the period in early May when that rate went as high as 60.

The state also reported Thursday the biggest 24-hour increase in hospitalizations, with more than 400 patients admitted.

Intensive care units are quickly filling up, including those in some hospitals with the largest bed capacity, such as the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville and Tampa General Hospital.

About 14 per cent of the state's ICU beds were available Thursday.