White House Estimates Up To 240,000 Americans Could Die From COVID-19

President Donald Trump’s health advisors announced on Tuesday that they believe about 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus despite efforts to slow down the virus. 

Dr. Deborah Birx, a top health advisor for the White House, explained, “There’s no magic bullet. There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors.” The White House is urging Americans to adhere to social distancing guidelines until the end of April in hopes those behaviors would change “the course of the viral pandemic.” 

Trump encouraged Americans to follow social distancing guidelines. We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks, and then hopefully … we’re going to start seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. 

“As a nation, we face a difficult few weeks as we approach that really important day when we’re going to see things get better all of a sudden,” the president continued. “Our strength will be tested, and our endurance will be tried, but America will answer with love and courage and ironclad resolve.”

Social distancing guidelines put out by the White House ask Americans to avoid restaurants and bars, avoid travel if possible, work from home and avoid crowds of 10 or more. Many states have already issued stay-at-home orders for everyone except essential workers. 

These restrictions have hindered the economy tremendously, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, a White House coronavirus task force member, said loosening these restrictions too soon could have dire consequences. 

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“This is tough. People are suffering. People are dying. It’s inconvenient from a societal standpoint, from an economic standpoint to go through this, but this is going to be the answer to our problems,” Fauci said. 

“Let’s all pull together and make sure as we look forward to the next 30 days, we do it with all the intensity and force that we can,” he added.

However, both Birx and Fauci stressed that the death rate might not reach 100,000 if Americans follow social distancing recommendations. 

“We really believe and hope every day that we can do a lot better than that,” Birx said.