A modified coronavirus death expectancy for the United States, released Thursday, projects the nation will see a total of 317,697 virus-linked deaths as of December 1st.
That’s an increase from about 8,000 deaths from last week’s earlier forecast issued by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
As of Thursday, the U.S. has recorded 5,863,363 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 180,595 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The rate of new cases has decreased in recent weeks, but the death rate has remained steady at around 1,000 per day since the beginning of August.
COVID-19 is currently the second leading cause of death in the US, after ischemic heart disease. The IHME predicts that the virus will be the nation’s leading cause of death in December, with 2,000 deaths a day expected.
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About half of the U.S. population currently wears a mask in public. If a national mask mandate were implemented and 95% of people met, the IMHE predicted, there would be 249,833 deaths by December – a reduction of 67,864 deaths from the current forecast.
According to Axios, 34 states and Washington, DC, currently have a form of mask mandate.
President Trump recently encouraged Americans to wear masks, but he still reiterates calls for a national mask mandate.
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Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has called for mandatory masks nationwide.
“Every American should wear a mask when they are out for the next three months, at least. Every governor should be required to wear a mask,” Biden told reporters earlier this month. “Let’s set up a mask mandate nationwide, start immediately, and we will save lives.”
