The fatal reach of the COVID-19 coronavirus is expected to claim the lives of over 1 million people in the United States, according to a top public health expert.

Andy Slavitt served as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) during the Obama administration.

On Thursday evening, Slavitt gave an update on the pandemic after talking with his sources.

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Here is what he learned:

The original sin is Trump’s months long denial and his dismantling of public health and response infrastructure. That wasn’t all, but it led to other fatal mistakes. 2/ — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 13, 2020

All of this could have ramped up and solved in January & February and right now we would be talking about containment. We could have also allowed labs to produce tests earlier or gotten WHO tests. We did not. Why? In part Federal workers could not be seen contradicting Trump. 4/ — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 13, 2020

Still today, people in the CDC are well aware of the fatality estimates at the top of this thread. Yet they are muzzled. They are aware of the shortages. Yet they are muzzled. Worse, they are being asked to call the press and tell them they are not being muzzles. 6/ — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 13, 2020

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1— get the truth out. It doesn’t matter if Trump does, every governor and key public health leaders (Fauci, @ScottGottliebMD, Hopkins, Gates Foundation) will become trusted sources. 8/ — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 13, 2020

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2- Continued: This means all communal living situations— elder care, homeless, prisons, low income communities with multiple residences, frail elderly, chronically ill. As we have tests these communities must be highest priority. 11/ — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 13, 2020

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4- Hospitals will need to free up capacity in: ventilators, ICU rooms, negative pressure rooms & will need to build tent facilities quickly. This means delaying elective things (smart to stay out of there anyway) and coordinating capacity. 12/ — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 13, 2020

6- There are plenty who can’t afford to not show up to work. So give them a break & keep them healthy. Congress must pass legislation for national family medical leave, SNAP, and other relief. Health CSRs should not have a cost to anyone. It’s what S Korea did & Italy didn’t.14/ — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) March 13, 2020