WASHINGTON — A top federal health official told lawmakers on Wednesday
that the coronavirus would continue to spread in the United States,
issuing a stark warning: “The bottom line: It is going to get worse,”
said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

He indicated that the National Basketball Association should bar
audiences from its games. “We would recommend that there not be large
crowds. If that means not having any people in the audience as the
N.B.A. plays, so be it,” he said.

Representative Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, pleaded for
candor. Massachusetts has almost 100 confirmed cases of the virus, many
of which were tied to a conference that the biotechnology company Biogen
held in Boston.

“The president has made some bizarre statements here,” Mr. Lynch said.
“The cases are not going down. The American people should be aware of
that. You should be forthright in explaining that.” He continued,
“standing behind him and nodding silently with an eye roll once in a
while is not going to get it.”

The number of known coronavirus cases in the United States passed 1,000
on Tuesday night, more than a quarter of which were announced on
Tuesday, a sign of how rapidly the disease is spreading in at least 37
states and Washington, D.C. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced at the hearing
that 31 people in the United States have died as a result of the virus.

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