Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that states are “putting themselves at risk” by not instituting lockdowns, and that it would be false for anyone to claim America has the coronavirus pandemic under control.

In a Sunday interview with CBS’ Margaret Brennan on Face The Nation, Fauci explained that “this is going to be a bad week” for the country because “we’re going to continue to see an escalation” in Covid-19 projections. Fauci continued to say mitigation is “absolutely key” to flattening the curve, but he repeatedly warned that the numbers will be “shocking” and “really disturbing” before a turnaround can be expected.

“Are you saying, Doctor, that despite the deaths that we may see, that mitigation is working and that you do have this outbreak under control?”

Fauci’s answer:

“I will not say we have it under control. That would be a false statement. We are struggling to get it under control, and that’s the issue that’s at hand right now. The thing that’s important is that what you see is increases in new cases, which then start to flatten out. But the end result of that, you don’t see for days if not weeks…So even though you’re getting a really improvement in that the number of new cases is starting to flatten, the deaths will lag by one or two weeks or more. So we need to be prepared that even though it’s clear that mitigation is working, we’re still going to see that tailoff of deaths.”

As Fauci went on by explaining how the projections are expected to play out, he praised the national increase in testing capabilities, even though it is not 100 percent optimal in his opinion. Eventually, Brennan asked if South Carolina, Arkansas, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Utah are “putting the rest of the country at risk” since they have yet to initiate stay-at-home orders.

“It isn’t that they’re putting the rest of the country at risk as much as they’re putting themselves at risk,” Fauci said. “Every time I get to that podium in the White House briefing room, I always essentially plead with people to please take a look at those very simple guidelines of physical separation. And they’re very, very clear.”

Watch above, via CBS.

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