An influential university model on the U.S. coronavirus pandemic on
Wednesday scaled back its projected death toll by 26% to 60,000 but a
federal health official warned of a second wave of infections if
Americans relax “social distancing” practices.
The downward revision in the death toll in the University of
Washington model – often cited by U.S. and state policymakers –
coincides with comments by some political leaders that caseloads may
have reached a plateau in certain areas.
Those assessments in recent days, including an apparent leveling out
in hospitalizations in New York state – the U.S. epicenter of the
pandemic – are tempered by a persistent climb in the U.S. death toll,
which rose by more than 1,900 on Tuesday as some 30,000 new infections
were reported.
New York Mayor Bill De Blasio told a briefing on Wednesday that
coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the most populous U.S. city had
stabilized and that the need for ventilators was lower than projected.
“In the last few days we’ve actually seen fewer ventilators needed that were projected,” the mayor said.
Even that revised forecast suggested months of pain ahead for the
United States. All told, about 400,000 U.S. infections have been
reported, along with roughly 13,000 deaths.
“What’s really important is that people don’t turn these early signs
of hope into releasing from the 30 days to stop the spread – it’s really
critical,” said Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House
coronavirus task force, referring to guidelines aimed at reducing the
spread of the virus.
“If people start going out again and socially interacting, we could see a really acute second wave,” Birx added.
The pandemic has upended American life, with 94% of the population
ordered to stay at home and nearly 10 million people losing their jobs
in the past two weeks.
Hospitals have been inundated with cases of COVID-19, the respiratory
disease caused by the virus, resulting in shortages of medical
equipment and protective garments.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation model is one of several that the White House task force has
cited. It now projects U.S. deaths at more than 60,000 by Aug. 4, down
from the nearly 82,000 fatalities it had forecast on Tuesday.
The White House coronavirus task force has previously projected 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die.
The institute also moved up its projected peak in the number to U.S.
deaths to this Sunday, when it predicted 2,212 people will succumb to
the disease. The revision moves forward the projected peak by four days,
suggesting the strain on the country’s healthcare system will begin to
abate a little sooner than previously expected.
AT-HOME DEATHS UNTRACKED
New York’s de Blasio estimated an undercount in the death toll of 100
to 200 people per day who are dying at home but excluded from the
city’s rapidly growing coronavirus count. So far the city’s announced
death toll has reflected only COVID-19 diagnoses confirmed in a
laboratory.
But after a spike in the number of people dying at home, the city
will now try to quantify how many of those died from coronavirus-related
causes and add that to the its official death toll, New York’s health
department said.
“Every single measure of this pandemic is an undercount. Every.
Single. One,” Mark Levine, chairman of the City Council’s health
committee, wrote on Twitter. “Confirmed cases? Skewed by lack of
testing. Hospitalizations? Skewed by huge # of sick people we are
sending home because there’s no room in ERs. Deaths? Massive undercount
because of dying at home.”
The state of New York accounts for more than a third of U.S.
confirmed coronavirus cases, and nearly half the cumulative death toll.
Authorities in various states in recent days have disclosed data
showing that the pandemic was having a disproportionate impact on
African Americans, reflecting longstanding racial inequities in health
outcomes in the United States.
De Blasio said there were “clear inequalities” in how the coronavirus is affecting his city’s population.
In New York, long weeks of fighting the pandemic were taking a toll
on hospital staff, some of whom are coming down with the disease they
have been fighting.
One resident doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital said he had been surprised by the number of hospital workers infected.
“There are people around the hospital who are sick and now they’re
showing up on our patient list. … It’s hard not to see yourself in
them,” the resident said. “A lot of us feel like we are being put in
harm’s way.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/u-s-coronavirus-death-projection-lowered-new-york-fears-undercount-idUSKBN21Q204
