As confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States climb ever higher, national health experts warn the virus could become seasonal in nature.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday that it is likely the coronavirus would become a seasonal occurrence.

The infectious diseases expert told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that it’s likely the virus “will assume a seasonal nature” because it is unlikely to be contained around the world this year. 

“Unless we get this globally under control, there is a very good chance that it’ll assume a seasonal nature,” said Fauci.

Fauci noted that even if the global number of cases shrinks to a significantly low number, the difficulty in containing the outbreak means that it is difficult to eradicate, and the next season could see a second rise of the outbreak.

“We need to be prepared that, since it will be unlikely to be completely eradicated from the planet, that as we get into next season, we may see the beginning of a resurgence,” he said.

As of Tuesday, there were more than 379,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., with more than 12,000 deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

“I will not say we have it under control… That would be a false statement. We are struggling to get it under control, and that’s the issue that’s at hand right now,” said Fauci. “So we need to be prepared that even though it’s clear that mitigation is working, we’re still going to see that tail off of deaths.”

Johns Hopkins researchers also noted around 20,000 recovered cases as of Tuesday. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines say that after patients are no longer presenting fever symptoms for at least three consecutive days, they must then test negative for the coronavirus twice, with the tests taken at least 24 hours apart in order to be considered “recovered.”

It has remained difficult to keep track of recovered cases due to a shortage of tests, causing health officials to focus on identifying and quarantining new cases rather than ruling out cases that have already been identified.

Fauci reminded United States residents to adhere to stay-at-home orders and follow social distancing guidelines in an attempt to “flatten the curve,” or reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

“I always essentially plead with people to please take a look at those very simple guidelines of physical separation. And they’re very, very clear… Physically separate. Six feet away. Ten people in a crowd. Avoid any interaction like movies and sports events and theaters and things like that, even in areas where you’re not having a big explosion of cases,” said Fauci. “To the best of your ability, do that, because this virus doesn’t discriminate, whether you’re in a small town, in a relatively secluded area of the country versus whether you’re in a big city. And sooner or later, you’re going to see a surge of cases.”

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