Fauci: Americans should prepare to hunker down as coronavirus spreads

The head of infectious diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health strongly cautioned Americans against gathering in public places and to take the risk of contracting coronavirus seriously.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HEAD OF INFECTIONS DISEASES DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING: "If it looks like you're overreacting, you're probably doing the right thing." A top U.S. health official on Sunday said Americans should be prepared to hunker down as the number of coronavirus cases in the country continues to climb.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HEAD OF INFECTIONS DISEASES DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING: "And it is correct that the infections are going to go up." Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said Americans needed to seriously weigh the risks of contracting the highly-contagious and sometimes-deadly respiratory illness by going out in public.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HEAD OF INFECTIONS DISEASES DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING: "You don't want to make a pronouncement that no one should ever go into a restaurant.

I mean, I think that might be overkill right now.

But everything is on the table.

It may come to the situation where we strongly recommend.

Right now, myself personally, I wouldn't go to a restaurant." [FLASH] (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING (FRIDAY): "I am officially declaring a national emergency." U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the outbreak, and the U.S. House of Representatives later passed an economic relief measure that may go to the Senate this week.

But the national response has so far been piecemeal, led by state governors, mayors, school district superintendents, and employers who have decided on their own to impose closures or direct people to work from home.

The U.S. containment measures have so far been mild compared to the national lockdowns imposed in Italy, France and Spain.

The virus has infected more than 156,000 people in 142 countries, resulting in over 5,800 deaths.

With limited testing available, officials have recorded nearly 3,000 cases and 59 deaths in the United States.

Fauci expected private laboratories in the U.S. to ramp up test production this week.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HEAD OF INFECTIONS DISEASES DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING: "You're going to see tests more and more available until pretty soon they're going to be quite available.

But in the next day or so you're going to find people that are going to say, 'you know, I wanted to get a test, and I couldn't get it.'

That's going to to happen." As cases climb, the next question becomes whether U.S. hospitals are prepared for a wave of patients.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) EXCHANGE BETWEEN CBS NEWS ANCHOR MARGARET BRENNAN AND NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HEAD OF INFECTIONS DISEASES DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: BRENNAN: "Hospitals will be overwhelmed?" FAUCI: "No, no, I don't say that.

I say it's possible that they could be.

But when you say that, people get frightened." Fauci did not want to cause alarm, but he said the government was preparing for a worst-case scenario.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HEAD OF INFECTIONS DISEASES DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING: "We would be unrealistic to not pay attention to the possibility that it could happen." At least one formal federal official was prepared to say what that might look like.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) EXCHANGE BETWEEN CBS NEWS ANCHOR MARGARET BRENNAN AND FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER SCOTT GOTTLIEB: BRENNAN: "Are there enough medical supplies?" GOTTLIEB: "Not if we have a Wuhan-style outbreak in a major city or multiple cities, which is my concern, that we could have outbreaks of that proportion in multiple U.S. cities." Scott Gottlieb is a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

He said that virus - which wreaked havoc on the Chinese city in which it is thought to have originated - could have a similar impact on a similarity-sized American metropolis.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER SCOTT GOTTLIEB, SAYING: "If we have a Wuhan-style outbreak in New York City, that's going to overwhelm the system.

So they need to be building surge capacity right now in anticipation of that possibility.

There's ways to avert it, but that's the risk that we face right now." U.S. hospitals, gearing up for a large surge in patients, are worried that school closures will make it more difficult for doctors and nurses to work.

They are reaching out to temporary staff agencies and exploring other ways to maintain workforce levels.