The top-ranking infectious disease expert in the United States told a Senate hearing Tuesday that a rushed reopening of the U.S. economy could result in more COVID-19 outbreaks and many more deaths. Dr. Anthony Fauci's testimony via video conference before a Senate committee came as a number of states are lifting their lockdowns as a first step toward economic recovery.

"There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control, which in fact, paradoxically, will set you back not only leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try and get economic recovery, because it would almost turn the clock back rather than going forward," Fauci said.

In California, tech mogul and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has gone against a county order and reopened his electric car factory. The Fremont, California plant is the only automobile manufacturing center in the state. Musk took to Twitter to voice his opposition to the county's decision to block his company from resuming production."I will be on the line with everyone else," the Tesla CEO tweeted on Monday afternoon. "If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me." So far, no arrests have been made.

Nearly 1 million COVID-19 tests have been carried out in the state of California, and the number of cases is still climbing. California has the eighth highest number of deaths in the U.S. with over 2,800 dead. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is at 1.36 million and still climbing Tuesday, with the number of deaths passing 82,000.

All the while, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is, "maintaining distance for the immediate future" from President Trump following the VP's press secretary testing positive for COVID-19 last Friday. Pence reportedly made the decision after consulting with the White House medical unit, a senior administration official said. 

"The vice president has made the choice to keep his distance for a few days and I would just note that that's his personal decision to make that, as to how many days he does it," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a briefing.

A rare admission by a top Trump administration official was made that Washington and Beijing have been in early and frequent contact over the coronavirus and continue to cooperate. "I personally had discussions as early – I think CDC did – as early as January 2, and myself January 3, with my counterpart to discuss this. On a scientific level we had very good interactions," Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said.

There are two competing narratives in the U.S. right now over the battle against COVID-19 – one from the U.S. President saying the war against the virus is being won and the U.S. economy is set to come roaring back. The other from his health officials, the latest figures on coronavirus deaths and new cases, which tell a different story—that the pandemic is not yet under control and could claim tens of thousands more lives.