The United States has shattered its own record for COVID-19, confirming 75,600 cases of the disease on Thursday, as Texas and Florida both reported their highest death tolls of the pandemic. Speaking in an online forum hosted by Facebook, top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said the record spike in infections — which is the worst in the world — resulted from states rushing to reopen their economies too quickly.

Dr. Anthony Fauci: “You can’t jump over steps, which is very perilous when you think about rebound. And the proof of the pudding is, look what’s happened. There really is no reason why we’re having 40-, 50-, 60,000, other than the fact that we’re not doing something correctly.”

Dr. Fauci said the U.S. economy will continue to suffer unless the virus is brought under control through simple measures like mask-wearing, avoiding crowds, and practicing social distancing.