The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is forecasting as many as 100,000 additional Covid-19 deaths in the next few weeks.
The CDC forecast of additional Covid-19 deaths follows Wednesday's report of more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths, which brought the total US death toll to at least 406,001 people based on the Johns Hopkins tracking data.
Rising Covid-19 death toll
The CDC published an ensemble forecast, which indicates that the number of deaths could reach 508,000 by February 13, compared to the January 13 projection of up to 477,000 deaths by February 6.
New CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky described the death toll as "truly heartbreaking" but she claimed that "healthier days lie ahead" if a rapid acceleration of testing, surveillance and vaccination is achieved.
Dr. Walensky said the CDC will undertake a review of all of its guidance concerning the pandemic, so "people can make decisions and take action based upon the best available evidence."
In addition to the forecast, the agency has also extended a federal moratorium preventing the eviction of some people from their homes until March 31 in order to lessen the financial burden on people.
President Joe Biden also announced that the country will rejoin the World Health Organization (WHO) under his administration.
Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, mentioned that the Biden administration will continue to conduct regular meetings with with local health officials.
Freeman said: "We still have a lot of spread and a lot of burden from that spread on our health care systems and a lot of death from the disease. We still have a lot of work to do."
Calls for increased vaccine distribution
Health experts and officials in the US are calling for more supplies of Covid-19 vaccines as the deaths surpass 400,000.
The alarming number of Covid-19 deaths in the US has prompted health experts and officials to focus on mitigating the possible impact of the new variant and calling for increased supplies of vaccines across the country.
Michael Osterholm, a coronavirus adviser to President-elect Joe Biden and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said: “I worry desperately in the next six to 12 weeks we’re going to see a situation with this pandemic unlike anything we’ve seen yet to date.”
Osterholm admitted that while Biden’s administration will do everything to increase vaccine distribution, he said, "we can’t make the vaccine go much faster than it is right now." He mentioned the need to plan for critical action to keep the new variant under control.
He argued: "The difference is going to be, ‘Are we going to react now or later?’ Do we put the brakes on after the car’s wrapped around the tree, or we try to put the brakes on before we leave the intersection?"
