- Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, estimates that the COVID-19 death toll will surpass 200,000 within the next three months
- The dire prediction exceeds estimates from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model
- That model forecasts there will be about 60,000 more deaths, bringing the total to 169,890 by October 1
- The predictions of an additional onslaught from the novel coronavirus comes shortly after the US surpassed two million cases on Wednesday
- The number of infections in the US is now at 2,000,464 and the death toll has increased to 112,924
- Though some countries are close to the one million mark, the US is the only nation to not only surpass that mark, but double it
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, estimates that the COVID-19 death toll will surpass 200,000 within the next three months One hundred thousand more Americans will die from coronavirus by September, doubling the country’s current death toll, a Harvard expert has predicted. Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, estimates that the COVID-19 death toll will surpass 200,000 within the next three months.
‘We right now have about 800 to 1,000 Americans dying from coronavirus each day. If we don’t have anymore spikes during summer… over the next three months, we’ll cross the 200,000 mark,’ he told NBC’s Today on Thursday.
‘We still won’t be done. This pandemic is going to be with us until next spring when we have vaccine.’ Dr Jha’s dire prediction exceeds estimates from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model that is often cited by the White House. That model forecasts there will be about 60,000 more deaths, bringing the total to 169,890 by October 1. ‘If the US is unable to check the growth in September, we could be facing worsening trends in October, November, and the following months if the pandemic, as we expect, follows pneumonia seasonality,’ IHME Director Dr Christopher Murray told CNN. The predictions of an additional onslaught from the novel coronavirus comes shortly after the US surpassed two million cases on Wednesday. Though some countries are close to the one million mark, the US is the only nation to not only surpass that mark, but double it. The number of infections in the US is now at 2,000,464 and the death toll has increased to 112,924. Dr Jha’s dire prediction exceeds estimates from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model that is often cited by the White House. That model forecasts there will be about 60,000 more deaths, bringing the total to 169,890 by October 1 The harrowing predictions come after it emerged that nine states across the US are seeing spikes in the number of people who have been hospitalized for COVID-19 since Memorial Day. Coronavirus hospitalizations have been increasing in at least nine states – mostly in the south and south-west of the country – over the past two weeks. Arizona, Texas, North Carolina and Utah are among those that have seen record spikes in hospitalizations since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in mid-March. In Arizona, the state’s health department told hospitals to activate coronavirus emergency plans in preparation for a potential surge in new cases. South Carolina, parts of California, Oregon, Arkansas and Mississippi have also seen an uptick in the number of people being hospitalized. The increase in hospitalizations in those nine states occurred as other states reopened and large gatherings were held across the country over the Memorial Day weekend. All of those states, apart from Mississippi, are now virus hotspots after also seeing increases in the number of infections in the past week. The uptick, which could lead authorities to reimpose or tighten public health restrictions, complicates efforts to reopen the economy that has been devastated by stay-at-home orders that were in place across much of the US. Louisiana and Arizona have seen the number of deaths increase by more than 30 per cent in the last week compared to the previous seven days, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the COVID Tracking Project. Ohio and Florida saw fatal cases increase by more than 15 per cent and Indiana saw deaths go up by seven per cent in a week. Michigan also recorded a spike in deaths – up 53 per cent – after the state reported 240 probable deaths on June 5. Arizona recorded an increase of more than 90 per cent in new cases in the week ending June 7 compared with the previous seven days, according to a Reuters analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. Michigan saw a 158 per cent increase in new cases last week due mainly to the state reporting 5,000 probably cases on June 5. Arkansas, Utah, New Mexico and Massachusetts all saw weekly increases of more than 40 per cent and new cases in Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina and North Carolina all rose by more than 30 per cent in the past week. In New Mexico, about half of the new cases were from one prison in Otero County, state health officials said.