Alex Brandon/AP

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the US should prepare for a reality where 100,000 Americans are killed from coronavirus, he said Tuesday afternoon during a coronavirus task force briefing.

"As sobering as that number is, we should be prepared for it. Is it going to be that much? I hope not and I think the more we push back on mitigation, the less likelihood it would that number. But as being realistic, we need to prepare ourselves that that is a possibility that that's what we'll see," Fauci said.

Fauci added on the projected numbers of deaths: “We don’t accept that number. We are going to do everything we can to be below that.”

“This is the thing to anticipate but that doesn’t mean that we are going to accept it,” Fauci said in the White House briefing room.

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