Former FDA Commissioner Warns The US South To Expect An 'Extended Plateau' Of Coronavirus Cases

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, warned the U.S. South likely would face an “extended plateau” of coronavirus cases once the surge begins to recede. His warning came as several states reported their highest number of single-day cases in the last week since the beginning of the U.S. pandemic.

As of Monday, there have been more than 3.3 million confirmed cases and over 135,000 deaths from coronavirus.

The latest single-day record was set in Florida as the state’s Department of Health reported 15,299 new cases over 24 hours for Saturday. Other states to set new single-day records in the last week included Texas, Missouri, California and Utah.

“I think in the South you're likely to see an extended plateau. We really don't have a national approach here. What we have is state approaches that are creating regional effects, and so those regional effects are different,” Gottlieb told CBS on Sunday. “The New York experience mirrored Italy. I think the Southern experience is more likely to mirror Brazil where you're likely to see more of an extended plateau once we reach that apex, and you could reach the apex in the next two or three weeks.”

Gottlieb went after the governors in the surging states for trying to reopen earlier than they should have, believing they “felt they were out of the woods.” He also said people became “complacent” and began going out without taking the necessary precautions, leading to a spike in younger people that is “seeping” into the state’s older population.

He then warned precautions will need to be taken to protect younger children from possible infection in response to President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ push to reopen schools in the fall. Gottlieb said the burden largely will be on local school districts to ensure the proper measures are in place to protect children’s health if and when schools begin to reopen before the end of 2020.

“What we've learned from this virus is it has surprised us. We've both underestimated and overestimated it at the same time, so we need to be prudent,” Gottlieb said. “I think it's important to give discretion to local districts to take steps to try to de-densify schools and protect kids so we don't have outbreaks.”