The US hasn’t budgeted enough to fight disease, said CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield during CNN's ongoing town hall on the coronavirus.

“I think we have to be direct and honest about it. Over the last 10, 20, 30 years, we’ve under-invested in public health in this nation,” Redfield said.

“We’re in the position now of preparing a significant expansion of local public health capacity so that we can operationalize this."

The CDC now has more than 500 people in all 50 states, Redfield said, and the agency plans to expand that number substantially to have a public health response team that can manage when someone tests positive for coronavirus.

Some experts have said that the country will need at least 300,000 people around the country for adequate contract tracing, but Redfield disagreed.

“I don’t think that’s the estimates that we have right now,” Redfield said. “I think if we were trying to do this in the midst of a massive transmission period, it may be more substantial. I do think it’s going to take a substantial enhancement, but I don’t think that’s quite the magnitude that we think at this moment in time.”