A Trump administration economic adviser warned at the end of January that the coronavirus could result in a global pandemic and cost hundreds of thousands of American lives.

Peter Navarro wrote a memo dated Jan. 29, which circulated around the White House, expressing his belief that the COVID-19 virus could result in more than half a million American deaths and may cost the United States close to $6 trillion.

“The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil,” Navarro’s memo said, according to the New York Times. “This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.”

While he also outlined the possibility that the coronavirus turned out to only be as harmful as the seasonal flu, he noted the “risk of a worst-case pandemic scenario should not be overlooked.”

The memo, which was sent to the National Security Council, coincided with President Trump's decision to limit travel from China to the U.S. as a way to mitigate the spread of the virus and with the creation of the White House coronavirus task force.

Navarro sent a second memo, this one addressed to the president, on Feb. 23 in which he noted the “increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1.2 million souls.”

Portions of the second memo appeared to be directed at members of the task force who were not on board with his vision on how to stop the virus.

“Any member of the Task Force who wants to be cautious about appropriating funds for a crisis that could inflict trillions of dollars in economic damage and take millions of lives has come to the wrong administration,” he wrote.

Trump, on the same day the second memo was dated, told reporters, “We have it very much under control in this country.”