The United States should see a drop in deaths related to COVID-19 within the next week or so, according to the director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What’s going on?
CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday that mitigation efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus have worked, but it takes a few weeks to see those efforts affect the numbers, CNN reports.
“It is important to understand these interventions are going to have a lag, that lag is going to be three to four weeks. Hopefully this week and next week you’re going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop.” — Redfield (Journal of American Medical Association).
Redfield said there are areas in the United States that haven’t seen a drop but have held steady. He warned these areas to still take precautions to stop the spread of the virus.
“Middle America right now is getting stuck. That is why it’s so important for Middle America to recognize the mitigation that we talked about ... it’s for Middle America too, the Nebraskas, the Oklahomas.” — Redfield (Journal of American Medical Association).
The ongoing death rate from the novel coronavirus hangs around 1,000 per day on average, CNBC reports. Redfield hopes to see that number drop below 250.