Medical experts are calling for more widespread shutdowns as the U.S. surpassed a grim milestone of 145,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Dr. Seth Trueger, of emergency medicine at Northwestern University, endorsed a letter calling for another shutdown: "It's not a question of doing it a second or a third time. It's that we're going to be some measure of this for years if we don't do it right."

More than 150 prominent American medical experts, scientists, teachers, nurses and others banded together to send a letter to political leaders, urging them to shut down the country and start over.

They warned in the letter, "If you don't take these actions, the consequences will be measured in widespread suffering and death."

"You don't necessarily have to go all the way back to a complete shutdown but you certainly have to call a pause and maybe even a backing up a bit," says Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

This comes as states like Florida continue to shatter records, reporting more than 12,000 new cases and 135 deaths Friday.

California is also reporting its highest number of deaths in a single day. In Starr County, Texas, it's a life or death situation with the county issuing a shelter-in-place order.

County officials say, "Our doctors are going to decide who receives treatment and who is sent home to die."

The head of the White House coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx, says these three states are essentially "three New Yorks" when it comes to COVID-19.

The U.S. has now seen over 4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases; worldwide, the number is approaching 16 million.