Coronavirus deaths are expected to go down before a sharp rise in September, model shows

Patrons wearing protective masks wait to enter a Chase bank location, Monday, June 8, 2020, in the Flushing section of the Queens borough of New York. After three bleak months, New York City will try to turn a page when it begins reopening Monday after getting hit first by the coronavirus, then an outpouring of rage over racism and police brutality. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) (Frank Franklin Ii, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

CNN – The US surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases as experts predicted Thursday that tens of thousands more people will get infected and die in the months ahead.

Nearly 113,000 people have died from Covid-19 nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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An influential model cited by the White House issued the dire prediction, saying the US death toll could reach 169,890 by October 1, with a possible range of about 133,000 to 290,000 deaths.

Daily deaths are expected to decrease through June and July, then remain relatively stable through August before rising sharply in September, the model forecasts.

"If the US is unable to check the growth in September, we could be facing worsening trends in October, November and the following months if the pandemic, as we expect, follows pneumonia seasonality," said Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

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Many states have loosened restrictions that began in March to stop the spread of the virus. But with no vaccine, more people congregating in public places and recent protests for racial justice in major cities, one health expert predicted that the nation's coronavirus death toll will nearly double by September.

"I think right now, most Americans are not ready to lock back down, and I completely understand that. ... I understand people are willing to live alongside this virus. It means that between 800 and 1,000 Americans are going to die every single day," Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told CNN.

"We're going to get another 100,000 deaths by September. So, that's a catastrophic cost," Jha said. "We really do have to try to figure out how to bring the caseloads down from these scary levels."

Hospitalizations are up in some states

Since Memorial Day, the number of coronavirus hospitalizations has gone up in at least a dozen states, according to data CNN aggregated from the Covid Tracking Project between May 25 to June 9.

In Arizona, officials are telling hospitals to activate emergency plans.

At its previous peak, the state's intensive care unit beds were 78% in use. As of this week, 79% were occupied. Arizona's Director of Health Services Dr. Cara Christ asked that hospitals "be judicious" in elective surgeries to ensure bed capacity.

"We know Covid-19 is still in our community, and we expect to see increased cases," the Arizona Department of Health Services tweeted.

Bed capacity and medical resources were among the top concerns in treating the coronavirus pandemic when the nation first reached a peak. Health experts say it is a matter of when -- not if -- the country sees another surge in cases that could overwhelm health care systems once more.

Fears of another spike are not limited to any particular region.

North Carolina recently broke its record with 780 coronavirus hospitalizations by early Thursday, according to the North Carolina Healthcare Association.

Though there is plenty of hospital capacity left, state officials are concerned about increased trends in hospitalizations when restrictions first eased, then again after Memorial Day weekend.

The number of Covid-19 hospitalizations since Memorial Day has gone up in Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, according to data aggregated from the Covid Tracking Project.

Overall, the new data mark an increase in several states that began in the past couple weeks. The lag period between when people are exposed to the virus to the time that they may actually get tested and come back with a confirmed infection can be about two to three weeks.

Some states are extra cautious

Areas that were considered early hot spots remain cautious.

While New Jersey's numbers are improving, it's not yet out of the woods, Gov. Phil Murphy said. And Los Angeles is encouraging residents who have attended protests over the death of George Floyd to monitor for symptoms.

"You could have an exposure and it will not come through a contact tracing system. Nobody knows that you were there, nobody has your name," Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

Los Angeles County is seeing an average of 1,300 new coronavirus cases a day as it allows more businesses to reopen, including gyms and museums.

The infection rate peaked at 3 and was brought down to slightly below 1 through the collective effort to flatten the curve, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a news conference.

County health officials now estimate the rate to be closer to 1.3 or certainly above 1, he said, adding that the reopening makes him "nervous." He urged people who participated in protests to quarantine for 14 days or get a free test from the 24 testing sites across the city and county.

Hawaii extends its quarantine for visitors

Hawaii has extended its mandatory 14-day quarantine for out-of-state travelers to July 31.

"We are working very hard toward reopening out-of-state travel, but we're not there yet. We are being very cautious," Gov. David Ige said Thursday. "There are new virus flare-ups in key mainland markets -- including California, where more than 2,000 new cases were reported yesterday. Oregon, Arizona and Texas are also reporting their highest number of new daily cases."

Hawaii has arrested visitors who posted social media images in public places when they're supposed to be on quarantine. The current mandatory quarantine for locals traveling from one Hawaiian island to another will be dropped Tuesday, Ige said.

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