An infectious disease expert on Sunday warned the United States is “in this for the next year” with precipitously high daily coronavirus case numbers unless there is a national change in behavior.

In remarks on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the prediction at a Senate committee hearing last month by Dr. Anthony Fauci of 100,000 COVID-19 cases a day is not overblown.

“To put it in perspective, [the coronavirus has] probably infected 7-8% of the population that’s it,” he said, noting the low number, however, came with emotional, social and economic “pain.”

“This virus won’t slow down … until we get into 50-60%” of the population infected if there is no efforts to wear masks and maintain social distancing, he said.

“[I]f we had 65,000 to 70,000 [cases] a day for the next 365 days it would just begin to get it to that level,” of infection, he said.

“So we have a lot of human wood to burn in this coronavirus forest fire.”

According to Osterhold, there will be variations around the country in the virus battle.

“We may see ups and downs in community,” he noted, but warned, “it’s not only likely we are in for 100,000 [a day of new cases] … if we don’t change our ways we are in this for the next year with those kind of numbers.”

• Infectious Disease Doctor Explains Why Coronavirus Cases Are Skyrocketing
• Several Florida Labs Wrongly Report 100 Percent of COVID-19 Tests Positive