Trump extends shutdown as dire death toll foreseen
100K-200K may die, Fauci warns nation
NEW YORK — The coronavirus outbreak could kill 100,000 to 200,000 Americans, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert warned on Sunday as smoldering hot spots in nursing homes and a growing list of stricken cities heightened the sense of dread across the country.
Faced with that grim projection and the possibility that even more could die in the U.S. without measures to keep people away from each other, President Donald Trump extended federal guidelines recommending people stay home for another 30 days until the end of April to prevent spread of the virus.
Mr. Trump’s extension of the original 15-day guidelines was a stark reversal just days after he suggested restarting the economy in about two weeks and came after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the dire prediction of fatalities, adding that millions in the U.S. could become infected.
By evening, the U.S. had over 139,000 infections and 2,400 deaths, according to the running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, though the true number of cases is thought to be considerably higher because of testing shortages and mild illnesses that have gone unreported.
Worldwide, more than 710,000 infections were reported, and deaths topped 33,000 — half of them in Italy and Spain, where hospitals are swamped and the health system is at the breaking point.
“This is not going to get better soon,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned.
Some states began to try to limit exposure from visitors from harder-hit areas. Florida is setting up checkpoints to screen visitors from Louisiana. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo repealed an order that New Yorkers coming to the state be singled out and replaced it with a requirement that all out-of-state travelers isolate for 14 days. Delaware Gov. John
cautioning that “now’s not the time to visit Delaware.”
Mr. Trump, who has largely avoided talk of potential death and infection rates, cited projection models that said potentially 2.2 million people or more could have died had the country not put social distancing measures in place. And he said the country would be doing well if it “can hold” the number of deaths “down to 100,000.”
Brought forward by Mr. Trump at the outdoor briefing, Dr. Fauci said his projection of a potential 100,000 to 200,000 deaths is “entirely conceivable” if not enough is done to mitigate the crisis. He said that helped shape the extension of the guidelines, which he called “a wise and prudent decision.”
The federal guidelines recommend against large group gatherings and urge older people and anyone with existing health problems to stay home. People are urged to work at home when possible and avoid restaurants, bars, nonessential travel and shopping trips.
The extension would leave the federal recommendations in place beyond Easter, April 12, by which time Mr. Trump had hoped the country and its economy could start to rev up again. Alarmed public health officials said Easter was sure to be too soon.
New York state — where the death toll closed in on 1,000, up by more than 200 from the day before — remained the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, with the vast majority of the deaths in New York City. But spikes in infections were recorded around the country, not only in metropolitan areas but in Midwestern towns and Rocky Mountain ski havens.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and lead to death. About 150,000 people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins.
The virus is also moving fast through nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other places that house elderly or otherwise vulnerable people, spreading “like fire through dry grass,” Mr. Cuomo said.
Since the U.S. saw its first major outbreak of the coronavirus earlier this month — centered at a nursing home in Kirkland, Wash. — a stream of facilities have battled infections among residents and staff.
A week ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 147 nursing homes in 27 states had patients with COVID-19. The problem has only worsened since.
In Woodbridge, N.J., an entire nursing home relocated its residents after two dozen were confirmed infected and the rest were presumed to be. In Louisiana, at least 11 nursing homes, largely in the New Orleans area, have reported cases. In
Mount Airy, Md., a death linked to the virus was recorded in a home where 66 people were confirmed infected.
Residents’ loved ones are being kept away to try to slow the spread of the virus.
“I have a feeling that I very likely may never see my mother again,” said James Preller, whose 94year-old mother, Ann Preller, is a resident at Peconic Landing, a retirement community near Green Point on New York’s Long Island where seven have died in the past two weeks.
In New York, the virus is overwhelming some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, with data showing high rates of infection in densely packed areas with big non-Englishspeaking populations.
Dr. Craig Smith, who heads the surgery department at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, said the hospital will probably be forced into “apocalyptic scenarios” in the coming weeks in which ventilators and intensive care unit beds will need to be rationed.
“Yesterday tried my soul,” he wrote in an online posting.
Worry for the poorest was being echoed around the world.
In India, a lockdown covering the country’s 1.3 billion people has put untold numbers out of work and left many families struggling to feed themselves. Tens of thousands in New Delhi were forced to flee their homes, with no way to pay the rent, journeying back to their native villages.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologized for the hardships that the lockdown brought but said, “These tough measures were needed to win this battle.”
Though the U.S. leads the world in reported cases, five other countries have higher death tolls: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France.
Italy reported more than 750 new fatalities Sunday, bringing the country’s total to nearly 10,800. But the number of new infections showed signs of easing, with officials expressing cautious optimism that the most severe shutdown in the industrialized West is showing results.
Italy’s civil protection agency said more than 5,200 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, the lowest number in four days, for a total of almost 98,000 in-fections.