WASHINGTON — Top federal health officials warned lawmakers on Wednesday that the coronavirus would continue spreading rapidly in the United States, and said Americans needed to immediately reorganize their lives to prevent further spread. “We have got to assume it is going to get worse and worse and worse,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, adding that Americans should not assume the virus will die off in warmer weather, as President Trump has repeatedly said. The message was another sign of the alarm and urgency health officials have tried to convey at the same time that the White House and Mr. Trump have tried delivering reassurances of calm and containment. Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that the virus will “go away,” has compared it to the flu and referred to the number of confirmed infections as low. Soon after the hearing recessed, the World Health Organization said the coronavirus now qualifies as a global pandemic, confirming what many epidemiologists have been saying for weeks.

Source: New York Times March 11, 2020 14:54 UTC