Trump Administration Rejects Projected COVID-19 Death Toll in Government Report
The White House has refuted an internal government report obtained by The New York Times predicting the daily death toll from COVID-19 could double by early June. According to the report, the internal update was obtained from the CDC after being acquired from FEMA. It predicts daily deaths could reach 3000 in the United States by June 1st.
To date, there are nearly 70,000 deaths in the country linked to COVID-19. That number eclipses the most recent prediction of 60,000 given by the White House in April.
According to White House spokesman Judd Deere, the document is not affiliated with the administration and was not presented to the coronavirus task force, nor did it undergo any interagency vetting.
In addition to the prediction about the death tool, the document also predicts the country “would likely experience” 200,000 new cases per day by the end of the month. Currently, the country is seeing about 25,000 new cases per day.
Deere explained the data included in the document does not come from any modeling done by the task force, nor has the task force analyzed what was in the report.
Deere also pointed out that the administration’s guidelines for opening the country back up are based on a “scientific driven approach” that was agreed upon by top health and infectious diseases experts in the federal government. The guidelines also include the intention to monitor developments as the country opens on an ongoing basis. Deere noted the health of the American people remains the president’s top priority.
Report Created Based on Data from Johns Hopkins Professor
Justin Lessler, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is reportedly the creator of the model cited in the report. Lessler told The Washington Post that modeling in the report was not complete and that is contained a wide range of possibilities.
The report was released shortly after several states began re-opening their economies before meeting the White House guidelines for easing protective measures.
Trump recently stated the COVID-19 death toll could reach 100,000.
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