Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, echoed that statement in a new report. "Current global circumstances suggest it’s likely this virus will cause a pandemic," Schuchat said, according to CNBC . "It’s not so much a question of if this will happen any more, but rather more a question of when this will happen and how many people in this country will become infected and how many of those will develop severe or more complicated disease," she added.