The White House coronavirus task force’s daily press briefing took on a somber tone as the country’s leading health officials got candid about the grim projections for the coronavirus.
In recent days, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institue of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the United States could see between 100,000 and 200,000 coronavirus related deaths with mitigation measures in place.
On Tuesday, Fauci explained that in the next few days, the U.S. would see cases continue to increase despite strict measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
But, he said, “We cannot be discouraged by that, because the mitigation is actually working. And will work.”
Watch his comments below:
Dr. Fauci: "This is tough. People are suffering. People are dying…This is going to be the answer to our problems. So, let's all pull together and make sure, as we look forward to the next 30 days, we do it with all the intensity and force that we can." pic.twitter.com/kq9yfI5Xxa
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 31, 2020
Additionally, Fauci said that while officials want to help hot spots for the virus, such as New York, get through their peak, they also want to make sure other parts of the country don’t see cases spike. He added that mitigation measures would help prevent that from happening.
“This is tough. People are suffering. People are dying,” Fauci said, adding, “This is going to be the answer to our problems. So, let’s all pull together and make sure, as we look forward to the next 30 days, we do it with all the intensity and force that we can.”
Additionally, Dr. Deborah Birx emphasized that limiting the number of deaths from the coronavirus is based largely on Americans staying home and following the guidelines.
“There’s no magic bullet. There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors,” she said.
President Donald Trump also stressed to Americans the next few weeks could be tough, “This could be a hell of a bad two weeks. This is going to be a very bad two or maybe even three weeks.
“This is going to be three weeks like we’ve never seen before,” he added.
