The total US coronavirus death toll may reach 175,000 by August 15, based on an ensemble forecast by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Calls for shutting down the country have been mounting due to record-breaking high of coronavirus cases in several states.
Over 1,000 people died every day for four straight days last week due to coronavirus. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the total US coronavirus death toll from has already passed 146,000 as of Sunday.
Moreover, researchers predict there would be 175,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus by August 15, according to CDC data.
Local leaders such as Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti believe a second stay-at-home order could happen again with hospitals being at full capacity and testing facing delays.
More than 150 prominent medical experts, nurses, scientists and other experts supported such call by signing a letter to urge leaders to close the country again and start over to curb the spread of the virus.
"Right now, we are on a path to lose more than 200,000 American lives by November 1st. Yet, in many states people can drink in bars, get a haircut, eat inside a restaurant, get a tattoo, get a massage, and do myriad other normal, pleasant, but non-essential activities," read the letter addressed to the Trump administration, members of Congress and state governors.
California is currently the state with the most recorded coronavirus cases, with 159 deaths linked to Covid-19 Friday. Meanwhile, more than half of all virus-related deaths in the state were recorded from Los Angeles County, where over 4,260 Covid-19 deaths have been reported.
Georgia reported at least 4,813 new coronavirus cases and 3,787 new cases on Saturday, while Oregon has a total of more than 16,100 Covid-19 infections.
A leading cause of death
Coronavirus may become a leading cause of death in the US before the year ends, according to statisticians.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may not be able to rank leading causes of deaths until the end of 2020 since it requires a full year’s worth of data. However, statisticians told CNN that Covid-19 may become a leading cause of death in the US.
“We know that based on the # of COVID-19 deaths so far in 2020, it will end up as a Top 10 leading cause of death but won’t know exactly how high it will rank until next year,” CDC mortality statisticians said via email Thursday.
“Heart Disease and Cancer, the two leading causes of death in the U.S., account for more than half of all deaths in the U.S. each year and that isn’t expected to change.”
Death certificates for the calendar year will become the basis for the final data.
Global coronavirus cases
The number of global Covid-19 cases has reached 16.05 million on Sunday afternoon, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The figure is roughly a quarter of the coronavirus cases in the US with 4,178,730. Johns Hopkins figures showed that the global Covid-19 cases were exactly 16,055,909 with 644,661 deaths.
There has been a continuous rise in case and fatality numbers across the US. Data revealed that the country recorded more than 1,000 daily coronavirus deaths for four straight days as of Saturday. Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus deaths in the US is currently at 146,463.
