70k More Could Die From COVID-19 In the US Before Biden Inauguration

By Staff, Agencies

US President-elect Joe Biden pledged to make controlling the coronavirus a top priority and is likely to push for mask wearing mandates and more fiscal stimulus to keep businesses and workers afloat.

But in the two months until inauguration day on January 20, skyrocketing infections could add more than 8 million more cases and 70,000 deaths, representing a potential 80% increase in infections and a 29% rise in deaths, according to Reuters calculations.

The only ways to change the outcome, experts said, are for US President Donald Trump’s outgoing administration to alter its strategy or state governments to introduce stricter and more coordinated measures. Colder weather adds to the challenge.

“The epidemic is going to be worse than it was in the spring, and worse than it was for the everyday American,” said Gregg Gonsalves, a professor in epidemiology at Yale University and a health care activist.

Trump has shown less involvement in the White House coronavirus task force in recent weeks as he focused on his re-election campaign and an effort to challenge votes in several states after the November 3 election.

Trump’s coronavirus task force has been superseded by a multitude of regional task forces, “which is probably the least efficient solution, but better than nothing,” said Greg Daco, chief economist from Oxford Economics.

US states and cities announced a patchwork of new restrictions this week aimed at slowing the virus’s spread.