U.S. deaths from coronavirus this morning, April 1, stand at 4,081 following a Tuesday press briefing at which Donald Trump warned the public that Americans could see 240,000 deaths before the pandemic is over.
Said Trump: “I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We're going to go through a very tough two weeks. … We're going to lost thousands of people.”
It was a marked change from his declaration about coronavirus weeks ago, that “like a miracle, it will disappear.”
The Guardian reports: “On Tuesday his experts said their models showed between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus even if the country keeps mitigation measures in place. Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus taskforce response coordinator, told reporters that models show a worst case scenario of between 1.5m and 2.2m deaths in the US ‘without mitigation'. But with measures in place, she added, the ‘mountain' could be reduced to a ‘hill' that projects 100,000–240,000 deaths – still a staggering total. She stressed that the number could be lower if people changed their behavior.”
