CDC Projects Nearly 92,000 Americans to Die From COVID-19 in Next Three Weeks
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projected near 92,000 will die from COVID-19 in the next three weeks.
U.S. CDC's Projection on COVID-19 Deaths
The United States remains the country to have the highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the country has recorded more than 23.3 million infections and over 388,000 deaths.
These numbers are expected to increase in the upcoming days in the next weeks most especially because of the presence of the new COVID-19 variant which is said to have a higher transmission rate. Another also is a virus resurgence as a result of previous activities during the holiday season.
According to a report in Forbes, the U.S. CDC said that nearly 92,000 Americans are projected to die COVID-19 in the next three weeks. The projection is based on the "ensemble forecast" the U.S. CDC put together.
The U.S. CDC said that "ensemble" forecast combines each of the independently developed forecasts into one aggregate forecast to improve prediction over the next 4 weeks.
Both national- and state-level ensemble forecasts are developed for predicting new and total COVID-19 deaths reported each week for the next 4 weeks.
Read also: California Nurses to Go on Strike on Christmas Eve Over Work Conditions
Will Vaccination Help Reduce COVID-19 Deaths?
COVID-19 vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are currently rolling out across the country. However, the widespread vaccination which could help reduce the number of infections and deaths failed to gain momentum and the country is way behind to its inoculation targets, according to the U.S. CDC.
Health and infectious disease experts have long been warned that the COVID-19 situation in the country will likely get worse before it gets better
Moreover, the first few weeks of 2021 have been the deadliest of the pandemic yet with numerous days featuring record-breaking highs for recorded deaths, new cases, and hospitalizations.
As of this time, there are more than 130,000 people are currently hospitalized for COVID-19 related health problems, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Even though those figures appear to be tapering off, this does not mean that the numbers are now slowly reducing.
Moreover, it was also found out that two people died from COVID-19 every minute during the first week of the year. This even gets worse seven days after the attack at the Capitol.
It can also be remembered that health experts warned that the riot in the Capitol could be a virus spreader.
Hospitals in Some States are Now Overwhelmed
Some states already raised concerns that their ICUs are already at full capacity before the holiday season. In fact, the ICU capacity in some regions in California dropped to0 percent, according to a previous report in Latin Post.
Hospitals in Los Angeles were reportedly running out of ventilators and many cities in the country were running out of beds as well as of early January.
This time, the new COVID-19 variants that were first detected in the UK and South Africa added worries to health and infectious disease experts. They believed that this could contribute to the drastic increase of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country.
Read also: ICU Capacity in Southern California Drops to 0% As Experts Prepare for the Worst