Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration, warned Sunday that the country's rate of coronavirus infections indicates "it's going to be hard to keep the virus out." "I think there's a lot of infection around the country," Gottlieb said in an interview Sunday with "Face the Nation." "It's going to be hard to keep the virus out. Even in the Northeast right now, it's going to be hard for that part of the country not to get re-seeded, and so you're just seeing it rotate through different parts of the country." While New York City and parts of the Northeast were the early epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the U.S., states across the Sunbelt then began to experience a surge in cases. Gottlieb said that as those states began to impose measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, including by implementing mask mandates and requiring bars to close again, they are now reporting a decline in new cases or seeing infections level off. Gottlieb attributed the decline to "the collective action of individuals" who limited their activities and were more diligent about wearing masks in public. "I think we're likely to see this continue where there is going to be these epidemics in different parts of the country and in compensatory action to get it under control," he said. "And it's going to be this slow burn, unfortunately, for the rest of the year."