Donald Trump is extending social distancing guidelines through April 30, as he announced at a White House briefing, Sunday.
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“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all,” he said. “The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end. Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30, to slow the spread.”
He continued to explain that the death rate is expected to peak in two weeks. This played a key role in his decision: “The modeling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks. I will say it again. The peak, the highest point of death rates, remember this, is likely to hit in 2 weeks.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci provided his rough estimate for the eventual death toll, Sunday, saying, “I mean, looking at what we’re seeing now, you know, I would say between 100 and 200,000 [deaths]. But I don’t want to be held to that.”
New York is critically low on supplies. Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN the city has enough medical supplies to last one week: “We have enough supplies to get to a week from today with the exception of ventilators. We’re going to need at least several hundred more ventilators very quickly. But we have otherwise the supplies to get to next Sunday.”
[Via]