Fauci warns 'little spikes' of coronavirus could turn into dangerous outbreaks if states open without necessary mitigation

• Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned in a Senate hearing on Tuesday of potentially devastating resurgences of the coronavirus if states relax social distancing without heeding federal guidelines.
• "There is no doubt — when you pull back on mitigation, you will see some cases appear," he said via video stream. "It's the ability and the capability of responding to those cases with good identification, isolation, and contact tracing."
• Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's coronavirus response and urged the hearing witnesses to tell the truth.
• Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn, and Brett Giroir, who is leading coronavirus testing at the Department of Health and Human Services, also testified.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned in a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the country will see potentially devastating resurgences of the coronavirus if states and localities relax social distancing without heeding federal guidelines.

Fauci, who is helping lead the administration's coronavirus task force, said "the consequences could be really serious if cities, states, or what have you jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up, without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently."

He added, "My concern is that we'll start to see little spikes that will turn into outbreaks."

Fauci said that if states aren't able to effectively mitigate new outbreaks, the reopening process will be dangerously uncontrolled.

"There is no doubt — when you pull back on mitigation, you will see some cases appear," he said via video conference from his home office. "It's the ability and the capability of responding to those cases with good identification, isolation, and contact tracing."

He added that it's "entirely conceivable and possible" that a resurgence will occur in the fall.

In an email to a New York Times reporter on Monday night, Fauci said what he most wants to convey to the public during Tuesday's hearing is " the danger of trying to open the country prematurely."

"This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal," he wrote.

Fauci said on Tuesday that the death toll is "likely higher" than the official count because of the many people who died in their homes who were not tested for covid-19.

"I hope that if we do have the threat of a second wave, we will be able to deal with it very effectively," he said.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, repeatedly criticized Trump and his administration for, she argued, suppressing the truth about the virus, ignoring experts, and responded slowly to the public health crisis.

"The president isn't telling the truth and our witnesses must," Murray said at the top of Tuesday's hearing.

Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn, and Brett Giroir, who is leading coronavirus testing at the Department of Health and Human Services, also testified during Tuesday's hearing.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday urged the witnesses to "tell the whole truth" about the crisis and the administration's response.

"Dr. Fauci is a truth-teller," Schumer said during an interview on CNN. "That's his reputation. It seems he has sort of muted the truth some in the presence of the president … He has to tell the whole truth here. The president does not like the truth. He likes a story that helps his own ego on the day he tells it. And that has had severe consequences for this country."

Many experts outside of government warn the Trump administration is pushing the country to open too quickly and endangering countless lives.

"We're not reopening based on science," Dr. Thomas Frieden, a former director of the CDC, told The Times on Monday. "We're reopening based on politics, ideology, and public pressure. And I think it's going to end badly."