The U.S. could save nearly 70,000 lives by December if the country implements universal mask mandates, according to a projection by thy University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
Researchers at the institute also found that a rumor 134,000 people could die in the US from COVID-19 in December if the country does not take further security measures. That number, they said, could increase if mandates are relaxed.
The US has reported 5.6 million cases and more than 176,000 people have died since Saturday night, according to a count of Johns Hopkins University.
IHME that if the US retains mandates as it is, the dead will dive in September, then go up later in the fall, and the total would reach about 310,000 by December 1st.
However, a federal universal mask mandate for the fall is highly unlikely, and President Trump
Donald John TrumpTwo ‘The Apprentice’ Producers Help at Republican National Convention Some 70,000 lives could be saved in the near future if people wear masks: Trump researchers issue disaster declaration for California as wildfire rages MAY has expressed support for businesses and schools reopening.
Public health officials have changed course on their recommendations for face masks, as scientists learned more about how the virus spreads.
In July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended this everyone “must wear a cloth face cover when they go out in public, for example to the grocery store or to pick up other necessities. The directive came after several studies showed that universal mask wearing could effectively contain the virus.
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