‘Matter of life & death’: Trump’s Covid-19 task force projects 100,000+ Americans will die even under tough 30-day isolation

31 Mar, 2020 22:21 / Updated 8 minutes ago

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Workers wheel the body of a deceased person outside a Brooklyn hospital during the Covid-19 outbreak in New York City, March 31, 2020. ©  Reuters / Stefan Jeremiah 

Senior members of the White House Covid-19 task force said Americans should prepare for 100,000 deaths from the pandemic, as the US president warned that following distancing guidelines was now a matter of life and death.

“The answer is yes,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, a top expert on the coronavirus response team, when asked if the US could really see between 100,000 and 240,000 fatalities in the outbreak at a White House press conference on Tuesday, but added that he "hoped" containment measures could reduce the number.

Without some drastic social distancing efforts over the next 30 days – which are already underway in a number of states – the team projected up to 2.2 million fatalities.

©  White House

Dr Deborah Birx, coordinator for the White House response team, also observed that the models used by the task force were based on data from only New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – among the country's hardest-hit areas – suggesting that 100,000-240,000 deaths were likely only if other states faced similarly severe outbreaks.

US President Donald Trump, noting that the next two weeks would be difficult as cases and deaths soar across the country, stressed the need for all Americans to follow social distancing guidance to stem the spread of the illness.

It's absolutely critical for the American people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days. It's a matter of life and death.

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Fauci, however, said the mitigation efforts in place were already paying off, and urged Americans to not be discouraged by the rapidly climbing number of cases, adding that “we are seeing little inklings” that the outbreak was beginning to wane in New York, the country’s major hot spot with over 75,000 infections and some 1,550 deaths.

Though the president extended social distancing guidelines – initially set for 15 days – to the end of April on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence dismissed the idea of a nationwide lockdown akin to measures imposed in France and Italy, stating that the task force had “reasons to believe” the current containment strategy was “working.”

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