White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx on Monday provided a bleak outlook as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, predicting that if everything to combat the virus is done “almost perfectly, there could be up to 200,000 deaths in the country.
Birx agreed with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s belief that if nothing is done to combat the virus’ spread, there could be up to 2.2 million deaths and said she is “very worried about every city in the United States,” but said the between 100,000-200,000 mark would be the best case scenario.
“I think everyone understands now that you can go from five to 50 to 500 to 5,000 cases very quickly,” Birx told NBC “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie.
“We’ve looked at the Italy data with their self-isolation, and that’s where we come up with if we do things together well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities. We don’t even want to see that,” she added.
Birx continued to emphasize the importance of social distancing and practicing proper handwashing.
“Well, the best-case scenario would be 100% of Americans doing precisely what is required,” she advised. “But we’re not sure based on the data that you’re sharing from around the world and seeing these pictures that all of America is responding in a uniform way to protect one another. So, we also have to factor that in. Cities that don’t social distance, that don’t stay at home, that believe you can have social interactions, that believe you can have gatherings in homes of 20 and 10 people even, that is going to spread the virus, even if everyone looks well.”
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