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Coronavirus: Trump extends social distancing guidelines as US braces for 200,000 deaths

South China Morning Post

發布於 2020年03月30日03:03 • Robert Delaney
  • US President Donald Trump says the death toll from the virus is likely to continue to climb for another two weeks, and estimates that recovery is likely by June 1
  • He says his earlier plan to lift the restrictions by Easter, on April 12, was only 'aspirational'
A woman makes a donations during the Personal Protective Equipment drive in Chicago, Illinois. Photo: AFP
A woman makes a donations during the Personal Protective Equipment drive in Chicago, Illinois. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that social distancing guidelines put into effect earlier in March to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic will be extended until the end of April, as the country's death toll is likely to continue climbing for another two weeks.

Officials in the White House coronavirus task force, including director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, deputy to Vice-President Mike Pence in the task force, have determined that Covid-19 " the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus " would kill as many as 2.2 million Americans if mitigation measures were not in place.

"The peak, the highest point of death, is likely to hit into weeks. Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all," Trump said. "Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30 to slow the spread.

"On Tuesday we will be finalising these plans and providing a summary of our findings, supporting data and strategy to the American people," he said, adding that "we can expect that by June 1 we will be well on our way to recovery."

Trump said his earlier plan to lift the restrictions by Easter, on April 12, was only "aspirational".

Fauci estimated in the briefing that the novel coronavirus could claim as many as 200,000 lives in the US even with existing mitigation measures in place.

By way of comparison, the 1918-19 flu pandemic killed 675,000 in the US, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

"All of the flu models predicted anywhere between 1.6 and 2.2 million fatalities," Birx said.

"If we didn't mitigate, some of (the models) predicted half of the United States would get infected … so we worked very hard together to really look at all of the impacts of the different mitigations that have been utilised around the world, and use that evidence base to really bring that data and that evidence to the president to consider for extending," she explained.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute said on Sunday that the novel coronavirus could claim 100,000 to 200,000 lives in the US. Photo: AFP
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute said on Sunday that the novel coronavirus could claim 100,000 to 200,000 lives in the US. Photo: AFP

Trump prefaced his announcement about the extended social distancing guidelines with details of a testing programme for possible Covid-19 treatments.

After gaining clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration, 1,100 patients began receiving a combination of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial medication, and azithromycin, an antibiotic, on Friday, Trump said. Another 6 patients began receiving transfusions of plasma from individuals who have recovered from Covid-19 in hopes that coronavirus antibodies in the plasma will fight the disease.

"We're having some early results that are good but we will see, and that's going very rapidly," Trump said of the plasma treatments.

Health authorities around the world are racing to find treatments that would stanch the flow of seriously ill Covid-19 patients into medical facilities unable to cope with the onslaught.

Singapore PM calls for end to US-China coronavirus blame game

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier on Sunday that his city's hospitals have enough protective equipment for only another week. He said he had made a direct request to Trump and the US military "to find us immediately more military medical personnel and get them here by next Sunday."

De Blasio credited federal officials with being "very responsive," but added, "we're talking about a sharp escalation ahead".

New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the statewide death toll had risen to 965 from 728 a day earlier " its largest one-day jump yet " and he extended an order for non-essential state employees to continue working from home for another two weeks.

Workers setting up a camp in front of Mount Sinai West Hospital inside Central Park in New York City on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Workers setting up a camp in front of Mount Sinai West Hospital inside Central Park in New York City on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan also described a deteriorating picture, especially in her state's largest city, Detroit.

"We had a thousand new cases yesterday," she said. "We know that number will be even higher today … The dire situation in Detroit is getting worse by the minute."

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier that Trump's "continued delay in getting equipment to where it's needed is deadly."

In his briefing, Trump suggested that medical equipment was being diverted or not used as intended, and called on local authorities to look into the matter. He used the example of a hospital where the requests for surgical masks rose as much as 30-fold.

"You heard 10,000 to 20,000 tops to 300,000, and that's a hospital that's always full," Trump said. "So I think people should check that out because there's something going on with that. I don't think it's hoarding, I think it's maybe worse than hoarding."

Additional reporting Agence France-Presse

Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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