Mar 30, 2020 - Health

Birx: U.S. will see 100,000 to 200,000 coronavirus deaths if citizens act "almost perfectly"

Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus response coordinator, told NBC's "Today" Monday that a projection of 100,000–200,000 U.S. coronavirus deaths is based on the presumption that citizens follow social-distancing guidelines "almost perfectly."

Why it matters: Birx said she is unsure that people are following the guidelines and cited images circulating online of people around the world congregating in large groups.

What she's saying: "Cities that don't social distance, that don't stay at home, that believe you can have social interactions, that believe you can have gatherings at home of 20 and 10 people even — that is going to spread the virus, even if everyone looks well," Birx said.

The big picture: The U.S. has reported more than 143,000 cases and 2,500 fatalities from the coronavirus as of Monday morning, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Go deeper: Fauci says Trump backed off Easter reopening after seeing coronavirus projections

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Axios

Updated 3 hours ago - Health

U.S. coronavirus updates

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios. This graphic includes "probable deaths" that New York City began reporting on April 14.

Infectious disease experts doubt that the coronavirus will slow its spread during the summer, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins wrote in a Tuesday blog post.

By the numbers: More than 105,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus and over 1.8 million people have tested positive, per data from Johns Hopkins. More than 458,000 Americans have recovered and over 17.3 million tests have been conducted.

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Jacob Knutson

Jun 1, 2020 - Health

Fauci: "My meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased"

Anthony Fauci with President Trump on May 15. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with Stat News that his meetings with President Trump about the coronavirus have "dramatically decreased."

The big picture: Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor and a key member of the White House's coronavirus task force, said he "was meeting with [the president] four times a week back, a month or so ago."

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Sam Baker

Jun 1, 2020 - Health

Lessons from the lockdown — and what comes next

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

We are nowhere near finished with the coronavirus, but the next phases of our response will — if we do it right — be more targeted and risk-based than the sweeping national lockdown we’re now emerging from.

Why it matters: Our experience battling this new virus has taught us a lot about what does and doesn’t work. We’ll have to apply those lessons rigorously, and keep adapting, if we have any hope of containing the virus and limiting the number of deaths from here on out.

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