The U.S. likely won't be able to shut down again: Dr. Scott Gottlieb

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, member of the boards of Pfizer and biotech company Illumina and former FDA commissioner, joins "Squawk Box" to discuss how public health officials can focus on building up the public's confidence and minimizing weariness about Covid-19.

If states that are experiencing flare-ups in coronavirus infections fail to take the necessary steps to address the spread, local outbreaks could “quickly get out of control,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday.

States like Arizona, Texas and Florida that are seeing surges in confirmed cases, as well as spikes in hospitalizations, should in some cases be conducting aggressive contact tracing, Gottlieb said. Contact tracing occurs when trained personnel interview infected individuals to pinpoint where they were infected and to track down others who might have been exposed.

“We’re not going to be able to shut down the country again this summer. We’re probably not going to be able to shut down the country again this fall,” Gottlieb said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “And so we’re going to need to try to isolate the sources of these outbreaks and take targeted steps. If we can’t do that, these will get out of control.”

Nationally, the virus continues to infect about 20,000 people each day, Gottlieb said, adding that it’s a higher rate of infection than in many other countries that also grappled with large outbreaks. He noted that come autumn, other countries might place travel restrictions on Americans because of the high level of persistent spread.

“We seem to be complacent, to some degree, with 20,000 cases a day. That’s an awful lot of infection,” he said. “That’s why we’re seeing these flare-ups and these outbreaks. This is going to become the new norm — these kinds of sprawling outbreaks — if we continue to have this level of infection around the country.”

In lieu of shutting down much of the economy and restricting movement again, Gottlieb said contact tracing and targeted responses will be key to the U.S. response.

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