Dr. Fauci warns 'people out there frolicking' as states reopen: Don't be 'overconfident'

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Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on Wednesday that Americans shouldn't become "overconfident" if they don't see an immediate spike in coronavirus cases as states reopen their economies.

CNN anchor Jim Sciutto had asked Fauci, who's helping lead the administration's coronavirus response, about whether he saw more cases in places that had started to reopen more quickly.

"I think if you look at some of those areas, you start to see a little bit of an uptick, and those are the things you have to watch really carefully, Jim, because there will be cases when you do that and that's the thing we need to accept -- it's how we respond to it," he said.

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"One of the things that I think the people out there frolicking need to realize -- that when you do that, and you see no negative effect in one week, please don't be overconfident, because the effect of spreading is not going to be seen two, three, or maybe even more weeks."

Fauci's comments came as some states like Florida and Georgia began reopening their economies after a months-long shutdown across the nation. Some have worried that reopening too soon could erase gains from the past few months and allow the virus to spread with a vengeance.

On Wednesday, Fauci seemed optimistic that Americans could prevent a second wave of the virus if they continued to follow public health guidelines.

"We don't have to accept that as an inevitability," he said of a potential second wave. "And particularly when people start thinking about the fall, and I want people to really appreciate that -- it could happen but it is not inevitable. If we do the kinds of things that we're putting in place now to have the workforce, the system, and the will to do the kinds of things that are clear and effective identification, isolation, and contact tracing, we can prevent this second wave that we're talking about if we do it correctly."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has criticized media outlets for hyping fears surrounding the virus, recently touted the fact that his state's numbers were better than others led by Democrats.

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"There are some states that did draconian policies and you see them, and they have spikes," DeSantis, a Republican, said during a press conference in Jacksonville, calling out Democrat-run states.

"They have massive spikes in places like Illinois, I mean Michigan has had a lot of problems -- Michigan is half of Florida's size," he said. "They've got, like 5,000-plus fatalities. We have about [2,100,] 2,200 fatalities and we're twice their size."

Continuing, he said: "Illinois -- major spikes and they have as stringent policies as you can, so I think that a more moderate approach is more effective with the virus, but I also think it’s more effective at getting people back to work and getting the society functioning again."

In South Korea, 40 newly confirmed cases — the biggest daily jump in nearly 50 days — raised alarms as millions of children returned to school Wednesday.

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All but four of the new cases were in the densely populated Seoul region, where officials are scrambling to stop transmissions linked to nightclubs, karaoke rooms and a massive e-commerce warehouse. All were reopened last month when social distancing measures were relaxed.

The country’s top infectious disease expert said South Korea may need to reimpose social distancing restrictions because it’s becoming increasingly difficult for health workers to track the spread of COVID-19 amid warmer weather and eased attitudes on distancing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.