More than 4,000 Americans have already perished as a result of the illness, and the total number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in the U.S. is surging toward 200,000 — although experts agree the actual number of those sickened is likely much greater because of limited testing capacity.

Meanwhile, people across the country have been ordered to remain confined in their residences, laid off or furloughed from jobs, forced to shutter their businesses, and told to stay home from school for months at a time. The rapid wind-down has left hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans on unsteady economic footing.

The less tangible consequences of this once-in-a-lifetime disease, not easily enumerated by statistics such as death tolls or unemployment rates, are certain to shape politics and art, institutions and industry in unforeseen ways, upending countless facets of American culture.

And when society does finally return to a semblance of normalcy, Fauci warned, people practicing their old routines of daily life might be met with significant difficulty as they adjust to a post-coronavirus world.

“I’m not a psychiatrist, so I don’t want to go into that realm,” he said, “but I think that when we do get the all-clear, in some respects, there’ll be relief — but I think there’s going to be some subliminal post-traumatic stress syndrome that we’re all going to face.”