Coronavirus could claim between 100,000 to 240,000 American lives, the White House Task Force said Tuesday, with President Donald Trump vowing an all-out effort to limit the numbers to the minimum.
The Task Force projected the grim numbers as COVID-19 killed more than 700 people in the United States, in spite of people observing unprecedented social distancing and a ramped up government response to the pandemic.
Trump told Tuesday’s Press briefing that the next two weeks are going to be “very very painful,” with top experts seeing an upward curve.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2020
The president, joined by vice president Mike Pence and experts, said the crisis would be “a great national trial, unlike any we have ever faced before.”
“When you look and see at night the kind of death that’s been caused by this invisible enemy, it’s incredible.”
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and Dr. Deborah L. Birx, chief health advisers on the Task Force, said in the absence of the ongoing mitigation drive between 1.5 million to 2 million Americans would die.
#DYK? Disease outbreaks, including pandemics, typically follow a certain pattern. The U.S. is in the acceleration phase of the #COVID19 pandemic. The peak of an outbreak is the point at which the greatest number of new infections occur. 1 of 2 pic.twitter.com/9TLWhw8gUA
— CDC (@CDCgov) March 31, 2020
The two doctors asked Americans not to be discouraged by the projected fatality rates, hoping that the numbers would be lower.
“There’s no magic bullet. There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors,” Birx said.
“Each of our behaviors translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic”
The story will be updated
