The nation’s top infectious disease expert warned Sunday that Americans should prepare to take far more drastic steps to blunt the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, which has sickened thousands of Americans across the country and prompted calls for a wide-scale withdrawal from public life.

“I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

His warning comes as the virus, which causes a disease called COVID-19, has caused the cancellation of events across the globe, as well as travel bans — and in some countries, domestic travel restrictions. Health officials have warned Americans to practice social distancing to limit the amount of community transmission and avoid overwhelming an already-strained health care system.

Asked Sunday whether he would favor the kind of national lockdown ordered by Italy’s prime minister, Fauci said he would rather err on the side of being “overly aggressive.”

“You know, I would prefer as much as we possibly could,” Fauci responded. “I think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for overreacting.”

Fauci said he’d broached these concerns with the White House, which has taken increasingly significant steps over the past week as the number of U.S. cases has exploded. He said there had not been pushback to his suggestions, noting that “in fairness, they listen and they generally go with what we say.”

While Fauci said “much more” needs to be done on the social distancing front, he conceded that some Americans would ultimately do what they please.

“I mean, obviously, you're going to have people who are going to go to restaurants anyway,” he said, when asked by host Chuck Todd about packed restaurants and bars as people celebrated St. Patrick’s Day over the weekend. “But for the most part, and particularly, if I can say this, this is particularly appropriate and relevant for people at the higher risk. The elderly and those who have underlying conditions right now should really hunker down.”

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He reiterated, though, that it was better to be safe than sorry.

“The golden rule that I say is that, when you think you are doing too much, you are probably doing enough or not enough,” he argued, urging Americans not to be “complacent.”

“Don’t even, for a second, think that I am saying we shouldn’t — I like to be criticized," he added. "When I say, 'Oh, you are being too overactive,' that is good for me.”

