Trump warns US to brace for a ‘hell of a bad two weeks’
PRESIDENT Donald Trump has warned Americans to brace for a “hell of a bad two weeks” amid White House projections of between 100,000 and 240,000 coronavirus deaths in the US even if social distancing guidelines are maintained.
US public health officials stressed the number could be less if people across the country were diligent in keeping their distance from one another.
“We really believe we can do a lot better than that,” said Dr Deborah Birx, the co-ordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, adding Americans needed to take seriously their role in preventing the spread of disease.
Mr Trump said it was “a matter of life and death” for Americans to heed his administration’s guidelines.
But he predicted the country would soon see a “light at the end of the tunnel” in a pandemic that in the United States has infected about 190,000 people and killed more than 4,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” Mr Trump said. “This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks we’ve ever had in our country. We’re going to lose thousands of people.”
The projections were laid out during a grim two-hour White House briefing. Officials described a death toll that in a best-case scenario would likely be greater than the more than 53,000 American lives lost during the First World War.
And the model’s high end neared the realm of possibility that Americans
lost to the virus could approach the 291,000 Americans killed in the Second World War.
“There’s no magic bullet,” Dr Birx said. “There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviours. Each of our behaviours, translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic.”
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious disease expert, called the numbers “sobering” and urged Americans to “step on the accelerator” with their collective mitigation efforts.
“We are continuing to see things go up,” Dr Fauci said. “We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work.”
Dr Birx said states that had not yet seen a spike in cases like that of New York could take action to flatten the curve of rising hospital admissions and deaths.
Deaths from the coronavirus topped 1,000 in New York City.
There also remains a wild card in terms of treatment: whether the experimental drug combination Mr Trump has touted – a medicine for malaria and an antibiotic – will actually make a difference.
That combination is already being used on thousands of patients, but Dr Fauci said he would want to see a rigorous test of its effectiveness.
Mr Trump’s comments followed his Sunday extension to April 30 of the social distancing guidelines that advise Americans to cease large gatherings, work from home, suspend onsite learning at schools and more.
It was an abrupt reversal for Mr Trump, who spent much of last week targeting April 12 as the day he wanted to see Americans “pack the pews” for Easter Sunday services.
He called the data “very sobering”, saying it was his understanding that 100,000 deaths was a minimum that would be difficult to avoid.
“This could be hell of a bad two weeks,” he said. “You know 100,000 is, according to modelling, a very low number. In fact, when I first saw the number... they said it was unlikely you’ll be able to attain that. We have to see, but I think we’re doing better than that.”
Closer to home, Spain has reported a new record of 864 deaths in one day while total infections broke the 100,000 mark, making it the third country to surpass that milestone behind the United States and Italy.
Spanish health authorities said yesterday that the total number of deaths had reached 9,053 since the beginning of the outbreak.
Total infections hit 102,136. But the 24-hour increase of 7,719 was 1,500 fewer than the increase from the previous day, offering hope that the contagion rate is stabilising.
Spain is two and a half weeks into a lockdown with stay-at-home rules for all workers except those in healthcare, food production and distribution, and other essential industries.
The country is frantically working