Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and more stars spoke with Dr. Fauci about COVID-19 in group call

Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of America's leading voices on infectious diseases, revealed he had a Zoom call about COVID-19 in April with stars like Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, and Ashton Kutcher.

"It was a whole bunch of movie stars and some sports figures and they wanted to know about what they could do to stay safe, about wearing masks and avoiding crowds," Fauci, 79, told CNN. "I was impressed by the questions they asked, by their level of sophistication."

Fauci said the call included 36 celebrities, like Mila Kunis, Orlando Bloom, 2 Chainz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Falchuk, and more. PEOPLE confirmed that Kardashian arranged the conversation after Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams asked social media influencers, including Kardashian's sister Kylie Jenner, to use their platforms to make their followers understand the pandemic "is absolutely serious, people are dying."

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said he spoke with the celebrities because they had "megaphones" and "could get the word out about staying safe."

"Each of them has enormous numbers of followers on their social media accounts," he added. "I could say to them, for example, it's important to wear a mask, and they get on their accounts and say 'wear a mask' and it goes out to an additional couple of million people."

Many of the stars have encouraged their followers to follow safety protocols. In May, following the one-hour Zoom call, Perry did just that on Instagram by promoting masks as part of her merch benefiting the organization Direct Relief.

Kardashian has also spoken publicly about COVID-19 and said her company is donating to communities most affected by the pandemic. Her sister, Khloé Kardashian, revealed she had COVID-19 earlier this year. She has since recovered and accompanied her sisters on a recent vacation that drew criticism from some on social media.

A record-breaking wave of coronavirus cases continued to sweep the United States on Sunday, with over 107,000 new cases reported just today.

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