Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, is sharing he is optimistic the coronavirus pandemic could reach its peak in the near future.
According to Gottlieb, some states across the nation are showing “hopeful signs.”
“When you look at the data nationally over the last two weeks you are seeing some flattening across the country,” Gottlieb said.
He continued, “You’re seeing the number of states that actually have expanding epidemics go down. So there are some hopeful signs across the country that the epidemic could be peaking.”
Check out his comments below:
"When you look at the data nationally over the last two weeks you are seeing some flattening across the country," says @ScottGottliebMD. "There are some hopeful signs across the country." pic.twitter.com/4cZh8IPbun
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) May 13, 2020
Gottlieb noted the New York region has shown “sustained declines” for more than two weeks.
New York has seen the most cases out of any state across the nation. As of Wednesday morning, there are nearly 344,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 27,000 deaths in New York alone.
Gottlieb acknowledged as states begin to reopen, the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations will increase. The question is by how much.
He explained as states such as Florida and Georgia have opened, they have not seen a sharp increase in coronavirus cases.
While Gottlieb is cautious with his optimism, he expressed he is still hopeful as the nation is seeing “signs of slowing” of coronavirus cases.
“We’ll see, I mean you can make an optimistic case here as well as a pessimistic one. I would choose to make an optimistic one,” Gottlieb said.
He added, “I’m hopeful there’s going to be a seasonal effect here. Now, we’re not in great shape, we have a lot of infection across the country, but you are seeing some signs of slowing.”
Gottlieb’s comments come shortly after Dr. Anthony Fauci’s Senate hearing on Tuesday where he shared he believes the coronavirus death count is “almost certainly” higher than the official figure, as IJR previously reported.
Fauci also said he does not believe the outbreak is “completely under control.”
