Coronavirus: Up to 240,000 Could Die in U.S. from Covid-19 Outbreak, Birx Says

As many as 200,000 Americans are projected to die in the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, a top White House official said, even with another 30 days of the most stringent public health restrictions. #Coronavirus #Covid19

Deborah Birx, the top public health official coordinating the coronavirus task force, revealed the data Tuesday, after the same analysis caused President Donald Trump to retreat from ambitions to urge Americans back to work by Easter.

The government has not previously shared details on its projections for the spread of the virus, which has so far killed more than 3,400 people in the U.S. and infected more than 177,000.

“We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House briefing. “Our strength will be tested, our endurance will be tried.”

The information helped persuade Trump to back away from his wish to possibly begin easing “social distancing” guidelines and extend them until April 30, despite the damage those tactics have done to the U.S. economy.

Trump said he envisioned some of the practices -- such as refraining from shaking hands -- as lasting “long into the future.”

Birx and Anthony Fauci, the leading scientists on the White House coronavirus task force, have said that several public studies bolster their belief the virus could exact an even greater death toll in the coming weeks.

The latest projection from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts the death toll will dramatically spike in April from roughly 4,500 to almost 60,000 people -- even with the isolation measures in place around the country. The study indicates the pace of deaths will plateau in May and June and eventually total almost 84,000 by the first week of August.

By April 15, when the death count is expected to peak, more than 2,200 Americans will die of the disease per day, according to the model. Trump and Birx pointed to the University of Washington study on a call with governors on Monday.

The projections assume that “strong social distancing measures” and other restrictions will remain in place throughout the country, even though some large states, such as Florida, have declined to put in place stay-at-home orders that exist in New York, California, Washington and other virus hotspots.

The soaring rate of infections is expected to strain hospitals that are already struggling to care for infected patients and obtain desperately needed medical supplies. The University of Washington study projects that at the outbreak’s peak, roughly 220,000 hospital beds and 26,000 ventilators will be needed.

Trump said Tuesday that the federal government has 10,000 ventilators that it has held back in anticipation of a surge in cases over the coming weeks.

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[neeshpines]

Remember when this was "Just a flu"?

[onjwxvf]

Remember when it wasn’t taken seriously

[MrLisarn]

She sounds like she’s an original valley girl.

[theclutch]

The orange guy said this is under control 1 month ago .

[Graymenn]

Give us a list of names of the dead. We need to be able to verify who these people are. If you are going to turn our lives off, we deserve to know you are not lying to us.

[littleclay]

USA - Population 331, 002, 651 Million, Caronavirus deaths 3, 807
Planet Earth - Population 8 Billion, Caronavirus deaths 42, 043 = (one in a million)

[doulosknight]

Wasn’t their plan to keep people calm? Pretty sure this is going to cause more unneeded panic.

[trailermashproductions]

It's at 3, 000 right now, what makes them think its gonna go all the way to 200, 000

[sunflowerrayne]

Pinky: Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight? Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!

Oh wait this is the wrong show, sounds so similar though.

[bobbyb]

I had a chance to meet and shake hands with Chuck Norris last week and his mere presence scared the livin Jesus out of the Rona ravaging me, jumped out out of my eyeballs and floated away by the millions . CHuck gave a smile and said now go in peace brother and I was healthy the next morning.

[Evelyn_Okay]

ThE pReSiDeNt: "Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I'm will to make."

[paintup]

The title and the words from the doctor contradict each other...🙄 but yeah, msm doesn’t “fear monger”, right? Lol.

[fallenhw]

the president looks like he has no idea wtf is going on lol

[EasyBCLS]

200, 000 is a 100% increase of 100, 000.... meaning that this projection is mathematically illogical and an insane range.

[johncnorris]

So I've been busy for the past couple of weeks, are the 15 people who were infected better now?

[descripto]

Why does it seem like everyone forgot that they were originally predicting a couple million would die? Now they're all freaking out over this massively reduced number that will probably shrink again. Never change sheepmates...

[IronCypher]

Beast system, it's ok to go to Wal-Mart but not church.

[tappedoutxc]

Here's a little something for perspective. Since October 2019 to this point here in the end of March there has been 38 to 54 million cases of Flu just in the U.S.A.. 400 thousand to 730 thousand were hospitalized from the flu. There has been 24 thousand to 62 thousand deaths just from the flu since October. 144 of those deaths were children. COVID has some work to do if it's going to catch those numbers.

[floydlooney]

The original estimate was a million or more. This is an improvement, many estimates now say 100, 000 or possibly less.

[dr.drojondro]

Alot of people still aren't taking it seriously...