Former CDC boss warns coronavirus will likely 'get a lot worse before it gets better'

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Former CDC director: Potential coronavirus death toll could be over 1 million

Former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden speaks out on need to prepare and take precautions.

Former CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak is likely to get much worse before the country and the world can get a handle on it

Frieden said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that the novelty of the virus belies the uncertainty it is creating.

"If anyone tells you they know what's going to happen, they don't know enough about the virus," he said. "What we do know, what we are seeing, in Italy, and what we are seeing elsewhere suggests that it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

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Frieden, a former New York City health commissioner, added that the preventative suggestions preahed by the Trump administration and other experts are correct: washing hands, covering coughs and not going into public places if one is ill.

He said that one of the problems that the virus can cause is a sudden spike in the public spread, which could shock hospitals that may not have enough facilities equipped to handle the virus.

Frieden also appeared to agree with decisions by major sports leagues like the NBA, NHL, NASCAR and XFL -- all of which have all postponed, canceled or planned to hold games without spectators.

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"[Large gatherings] can spread this very widely.," he warned. "We have within us, working together as a community, the ability to tamp down the peak. If we do that, if the peak is lower, we will have less chance of outstripping the health care facilities, beds, respirators that we need."

Frieden added it is also hard to predict whether this strain of coronavirus will be made less potent by warmer weather, as is the case with some of the more common influenzas.