Washington: A leading US model has upped its projected coronavirus death toll by August to 66,000, a 10% increase from its previous prediction.
The change came as states began updating their death tallies, adding residents of nursing homes whom officials are now counting as presumptive positives, Dr. Chris Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said Tuesday.
As the numbers grow, the timeline for relaxing social distancing measures should be slowed down, Murray said.
Murray’s team was taken aback when states like Georgia, which still has a high number of infections, announced they’d soon ease some restrictions, he said. Gov. Brian Kemp has said his state is prepared to handle an uptick in cases as businesses begin reopening Friday.
Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director gave an ominous forecast of a possible second wave of the virus in the winter.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” Robert Redfield told The Washington Post. “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.”
The US has so far recorded more than 826,000 infections and at least 45,150 deaths.
