New Projection Forecasts More Than 220,000 US Deaths From Covid-19 By November

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A projection from the University of Washington expects the numbers of deaths from Covid-19 to rise to 224,000 by November 1. Its expected deaths are up 16,000 from its last forecast as the United States has seen 60,000 new daily cases in four of the last five days.

The figures from Tuesday mirror rising projections from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and other independent models. The US has 136,000 deaths from coronavirus as of July 15, which means the county is expected to add another 90,000 deaths in the next 109 days, per new projections.

The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said the country could reduce that number by 40,000 if all Americans wore masks when in contact with other people.

“Use of masks is up, but not as high as it should be,” Washington’s IHME said in a statement. “If 95 percent of Americans wore masks each time they left their homes, infection rates would drop, hospitalizations would drop.”

CDC Director Robert Redfield has also warned about a difficult fall amid the country’s rising numbers, and said if all Americans wore masks for six weeks, “we could drive this [coronavirus] into the ground.”

Covid-19 cases are rising the most in Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. The only two states seeing decreasing numbers are in the northeast — New Hampshire and Maine.