The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States could spike up to 6,000 people a day by December at least, according to Dr. Chris Murray, president of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
Currently, about 1,000 people die every day from the coronavirus in the US.
In a new model released Friday, researchers at IHME predicted that the number of daily deaths in September would gradually decrease – then rise to nearly 2,000 a day after the beginning of December.
But Murray told CNN that, “depending on what our leaders do,” things could get worse.
“We have a worse scenario in what we are releasing and that is a lot, a lot more deaths,” he said. ‘And in fact, when December rolls around, if we do nothing at all, the daily death toll in the US would be much higher than the 2,000 deaths per day in December. It could be as high as 6,000 dead a day. ”
The new IHME forecast predicts 310,000 deaths by December – 15,000 more than the previous forecast two weeks ago. This is because although coronavirus infections are declining in some areas, the death toll is not.
“In some states – California is a good example – cases peak, come down, but deaths do not,” Murray said. “We are seeing upswings in transmission in places like Kentucky and Minnesota, Indiana.”
As mask use in the U.S. increased to 95%, the death toll could drop by nearly 70,000, Murray added.
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