Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has grown increasingly concerned about the spread of COVID-19 looking ahead to the fall.
Gottlieb spoke with CNBC on Thursday as numerous states in recent days have set records for the number of new COVID-19 infections, including Arizona, Florida, and Texas.
"I'm more concerned than I was three weeks ago heading into the fall," Gottlieb said, saying that while "we expected numbers to tick up," the "outbreaks are higher than I expected" and are "on the cusp of getting out of control."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Another reason for Gottlieb's concern, he said, is that although we now have "much better tools in place" to get coronavirus outbreaks under control, and "there's still time" to do so, there seems to be a "reluctance" to take action.
"The other thing that makes me more concerned is just the political landscape, and the lack of political will to take mitigation steps," he said. "There seems to be a political reluctance to step in with really any targeted measures right now," he continued, warning that unless lawmakers take "common sense measures" soon, "we're going to be stuck with a lot more spread."
Gottlieb previously noted that the "overall trend is favorable" across the country, but there are "states with bonafide outbreaks underway and they need to get it under control." Vice President Mike Pence earlier this week dismissed concerns over a second coronavirus wave, something Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, somewhat agreed with — in the sense that, he noted, "we're still in a first wave." Brendan Morrow
-
5 drawn-out cartoons about the ongoing government shutdownCartoon Artists take on government employee cosplay, which side blinks first, and more
-
Political cartoons for November 1Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include insurance premiums, early voting in NYC, and more
-
Salted caramel and chocolate tart recipeThe Week Recommends Delicious dessert can be made with any biscuits you fancy
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
