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Gottlieb: U.S. death toll could reach 300,000

As the United States passed another grim milestone, with more than five million people now infected with the novel coronavirus - according to a Reuters tally, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Sunday offered a stark warning about the virus's death toll in the U.S.

"We're definitely going to be somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000. Whether we're closer to 200,000 or closer to 300,000 depends on what we do and how this evolves."

With one out of every 66 residents now infected, the U.S. leads the world in COVID-19 cases. The country has recorded more than 160,000 deaths - making up nearly a quarter of the world’s total.

"The concern now is that this has become so pervasive across the country that it could start to infect more rural communities that have largely been untouched to date and probably are a little bit more complacent because they have been untouched, but are still very vulnerable because the infection hasn't been there."

Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Gottlieb also said children are 'not immune to this virus' as he addressed a report by the CDC focused on hundreds of kids admitted to U.S. hospitals with a rare inflammatory syndrome associated with the coronavirus.

State health departments across the country reported a total of 570 patients diagnosed with the illness from early March to mid-July. The CDC said all patients tested positive for COVID-19 and 10 died.

The rare but severe condition shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease, including fever, rashes and swollen glands.

It has been reported in children and adolescent patients about two to four weeks after the onset of COVID-19.

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