Dr. Birx now warns Americans NOT to go to the grocery store or pharmacy unless it’s essential during the next 14 days
- Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said the next two weeks are essential to breaking through the outbreak
- Residents in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington, D.C. in particular are told that they must stay in place to prevent the outbreak from worsening
- She warned even grocery stores and pharmacies must be avoided if possible
- Dr. Birx said that hotspots may hit their peak in the next six to seven days
- New York, Louisiana, and Detroit are hoped to be reaching the peak of their curve
- Models predict there may be over 850 daily deaths in New York before then
- The national model predicts the peak in daily deaths in 12 days
A top White House health official has warned to avoid going to the grocery store or the pharmacy unless it is essential for the next two weeks to prevent further spread of coronavirus.
The advice was directed mainly at residents of Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington, D.C. who are still only on the upside of the outbreak curve, meaning it is essential that people remain at home and practice social distancing now to lessen the virus’ impact.
Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, revealed during Saturday’s press briefing that hotspots of New York, Detroit and Louisiana are predicted to reach the peak of their death tolls in the next six to seven days but that there are other areas of concern emerging around the country.
The data shows that the daily death toll in New York City could reach as high as 855 people before it is predicted to subside in a week’s time.
It came as national deaths reached record highs on Saturday rising by 1,497 to a total of 8,503.
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Dr. Deborah Birx, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, speaks at the coronavirus briefing at the White House on Saturday. She warned that the next two weeks are the crucial times to practice social distancing and remain inside, even avoiding the grocery store
According to the model from The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, if the country continues on track with social distancing and lockdowns as it is, the country will reach the peak of its daily deaths from the outbreak in 12 days, on April 16, when 2,644 are predicted
With the current measures in place, the models predict that there will be a total of 93,531 deaths nationally but that social distancing guidelines will see the daily death totals level off
‘The next two weeks are extraordinarily important,’ said Birx.
‘This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe and that means everybody doing the six-feet distancing, washing their hands.’
Birx’ comments came after Trump warned America to brace itself for a ‘lot of deaths’ in the coming week, adding that it will be a ‘very horrendous’ time for the nation, as US virus fatalities top 8,500 with at least 311,632 cases as of Saturday night.
‘This will probably be the toughest week – between this week and next week,’ Trump told reporters.
‘There will be a lot of death, unfortunately. But a lot less death than if this wasn’t done,’ he added of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus.
The president was joined Saturday by coronavirus taskforce members including Vice President Mike Pence.
Dr. Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci were also on hand, as was Dr. Stephen Hahn of the Food and Drug Administratio
Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, would not comment on when the worst day would be but suggested the current hotspots should see the maximum number of daily deaths in the next six to seven days is social distancing has worked
Trump let Dr. Birx take the lead when asked by a reporter about when the peak of the country’s outbreak could be expected.
She was hesitant to put a number of when the hotspots will see the most extreme number of deaths but said that it may be in the next six to seven days.
The curve toward this peak will see a dramatic number of deaths as those who were infected two weeks ago begin to suffer the worst of the illness.
‘They are predicting in those three hotspots, all of them hitting together in the next six to seven days,’ she said of New York, Detroit and Louisiana.
She also noted that Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington, D.C. are only ‘starting to go on that upside’ of the coronavirus mortality curve as she urged residents there to stay at home if they could, even avoiding grocery stores and pharmacies when possible.
The grim news came as the death toll reached record heights on Saturday with nearly 1,500 deaths in 24 hours.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States have increased by more than 100,000 in the past three days as the national death toll stretched over 8,500 on Saturday.
Many states are now frantically attempting to provide ventilators for hospitals most in need as federal emergency workers also try to answer desperate pleas for respirators.
New York City remains the epicenter of the national outbreak where hundreds of people are dying a day. As of Saturday night, 2,624 people have lost their lives there.
Dr. Birx explained that the city may start to see a drop in the number of new daily cases in the next week but that the death rate would lag and continue to grow.
‘What we’re seeing today is the people who were infected two to three weeks ago,’ she said.
‘If social distancing and other mitigation efforts worked in New York, and we believe it is working, the cases are going to start to go down, but the mortality will be a lag behind that.’
According to predictions highlighted by the White House coronavirus task force, the U.S. can expect to hit the peak of its deaths per day on April 16, 12 days from now, when there will be a predicted 2,644 new deaths reported nationwide.
If the model tracked by the task force is correct, the curve across the country will then start to move downward with less deaths per day.
There are a total of 93,531 deaths predicted. according to this model.
The data for the models was collected by Dr. Christopher Murray and researchers from The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent population health research center at UW Medicine which is part of the University of Washington.
Dr. Birx has in recent days guided questions about what can be expected toward the site established by the institute.
The peak in national deaths per day could see 2,644 new deaths on April 16, based on current data, but daily deaths will then begin to fall as the effects of social distancing are felt
New York, Louisiana and Michigan are all expected to reach their peak before April 16.
The data shows that New York is six days away from its peak, on April 10, when it could suffer 855 deaths a day.
The model predicts there will be 16,261 total deaths in the city.
Louisiana is also six days away from its peak when there are 76 deaths a day expected.
Michigan is predicted to reach its peak in seven days on April 11 when 173 deaths are expected.
New York is predicted to reach its peak in six days when there could be 855 deaths a day. The city is thought to be nearing the top of its outbreak curve if current guidelines stay in place
The states Dr. Birx warned about are still only on the upward trajectory and have a longer line to wait until they reach the predicted peak number of deaths.
Washington D.C. may not reach the peak until April 13 in nine days time.
Colorado has an expected peak in 14 days on April 18 when the model shows there could be 85 new deaths.
Pennsylvania has an even longer wait with the predictions showing 15 days, April 19, before the state reaches peak deaths. It is thought deaths may reach 79 on that day.
The peak in daily deaths in Colorado is predicted to come after the national peak. It will hit on April 18, according to the current model, and Dr. Birx has encouraged residents there to stay inside to ensure that the spread is limited as it starts to rise up the curve of the outbreak
The District of Columbia may reach the peak of its daily deaths in nine days time if social distancing guidelines continue to be maintained and the current spread is limited
Pennsylvania could experience almost 80 deaths a day at its peak of the coronavirus outbreak but Dr. Birx warned that people must continue to social distance to not extend this further
Nearly 1.3 million coronavirus tests have been conducted with one-fifth coming back positive, according to new data.
Across state and local laboratories, 1,290,619 tests for the virus, have been run, according to The COIVD Tracking Project.
And while the majority of swabs have come back negative, at least 270,000 people – including 33,000 who have been hospitalized – been confirmed to have the virus.
However, with health experts say that with millions across the US still awaiting tests, the number of tests that have been performed are far from adequate.
Dr Birx says they 50 percent of the data for tests that have been conducted.
On Thursday, Birx said that all tests were required to be report their results to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the $2 trillion economic stimulus measure signed into law by President Donald Trump.
‘Well, I’m telling you, I’m still missing 50 percent of the data from reporting,’ she told reporters.
‘I have 660 [thousand] tests reported in. We’ve done 1.3 million…So, we do need to see – the bill said you need to report. We are still not receiving 100 percent of the tests.’
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