U.S. surpasses Italy for most coronavirus deaths in the world. Is the peak near?
More Americans have died from the coronavirus than any other country in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.
The United States passed Italy Saturday and now has 18,860 deaths from COVID-19, Johns Hopkins data shows. More than 500,000 have tested positive for the virus in the country.
Italy has had far fewer people test positive, less than 150,000, but the death rate has been higher. As of Saturday, 18,849 people have died in Italy, according to Johns Hopkins data.
The worldwide coronavirus death toll surpassed 100,000 Friday. More than 1.7 million people around the world have tested positive.
But key experts on the disease have shown glimmers of optimism that the U.S. will soon reach its peak.
“I think we are coming to the peak … we are able to see the other side of the curve and we will see this outbreak continue to decline over the weeks ahead,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said on CNN.
Estimations by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation show the U.S. may have peaked Friday with a projected 1,983 deaths, but more than 1,900 deaths are projected each of the following two days. The models will be updated again Monday with new data to show whether or not U.S. deaths peaked.
“We are seeing hospital admissions decline very substantially and nationwide the number of new cases per day is flattening substantially, suggesting we are near the peak and our comprehensive strategy is working,” President Donald Trump said during a White House press briefing Friday.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said at the briefing the U.S. has not peaked yet but cases are “starting to level” as Italian cases began to do last week.
The U.S. isn’t out of the woods just yet, however. IHME’s estimates show the U.S. will have more than 1,000 deaths per day through April. The IHME estimations have been the White House’s preferred model.
The IHME model now shows about 60,000 people in the U.S. could die from coronavirus, when earlier estimates showed numbers upwards of 100,000 deaths.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s infectious disease expert, credits successful social distancing as a reason for the decline in death estimations.
“The real data are telling us that it is highly likely that we’re having a definite positive effect by this mitigation things that we’re doing – this physical separation – so I believe we are gonna see a downturn in that,” Fauci told NBC’s “Today” show.
This story was originally published April 11, 2020 at 9:18 AM with the headline "U.S. surpasses Italy for most coronavirus deaths in the world. Is the peak near?."