Nearly 180,000 Americans will die of the corona virus on October 1 unless almost everyone starts wearing masks, show new projections.
The latest coronavirus projection from the University of Washington Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation showed 179,106 deaths on October 1 if there were no changes.
But that number will drop to 146,000 if 95% of Americans start wearing masks in public, the model estimates.
The previous IHME estimate, published June 15, projected 201,129 deaths on October 1. “California and other countries have seen an increase in the number of cases in recent weeks, but deaths have not increased at the same rate, a trend that can change in the coming weeks,” IHME director Christopher Murray said in a statement Wednesday.
“There is no doubt that even as the country opened up, the United States was still grappling with a major epidemic in efforts to increase starting at the end of August and increasing in September,” Murray said. “People need to know that wearing a mask can reduce transmission of the virus by as much as 50%, and those who refuse to risk their lives, their families, their friends, and their communities.”
According to a June 12 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 74% of Americans nationally say they often wear masks. That figure is close to 90% in New York and Los Angeles.
“Countries that report the age of confirmed cases show that there are more cases detected in younger people who are at far lower risk of dying than older people,” Murray said. “It remains to be seen how this will unfold over the next few weeks, and if transmission continues to increase, we might see an increase in infections in populations at risk.”
