National Institutes of Health warn that 70,000 Americans could be infected with coronavirus by the end of next week in ‘dramatic increase’ of cases
- National Institutes of Health head spoke to employees on Friday to inform them that he expects to see the number of those infected to increase ‘dramatically’
- The numbers could be as many as 70,000 up from around 19,000 currently
- So far 250 Americans have died in the US with 275,000 globally
- Collins agreed that ‘social distancing’ was necessary to slow the spread of the virus but explained that he didn’t like the phrase overall
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Up to 70,000 Americans may be confirmed as being infected by with coronavirus by the end of next week according to the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins.
Collins said he expected to see a ‘pretty dramatic’ increase in the number of people being confirmed but stressed that it ‘doesn’t mean necessarily that the outbreak has exploded at an even more rapid rate.’
‘It just means we’re now able to find out who’s out there, who is infected,’ because ‘testing is now going to be much more available across the country,’ he said.
Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health spoke to employees on Friday to inform them that he expects to see the number of those infected to increase ‘dramatically’
The numbers of those infected could be as many as 70,000 by this time next week, up from around 19,000 currently. File photo of patients lying in bed in Lombardy, Italy
Collins confirmed that the number of coronavirus cases in the United States stands at about 19,000. ‘We will probably see four, five times that number of cases a week or 10 days from now,’ he said, reports ABC News.
An estimated 250 Americans have died.
‘When will we be out the other side of this?’ Collins asked rhetorically. ‘I have no crystal ball. … Will we be back to normal by July or August or September? I have no idea.’
Collins agree that ‘social distancing’ is necessary to halting the spread of the deadly disease but explained that he didn’t like the phrase overall.
Collins, pictured, agreed that ‘social distancing’ was necessary to slow the spread of the virus but explained that he didn’t like the phrase overall
‘I really don’t like the ‘social distancing’ term,’ he said. ‘It sort of implies that we have to get apart socially. We really have to get apart physically. This may be a time where we ought to try every other means to stay together socially, linking up by virtual means … to support each other, to share experiences, to make sure that needs that are out there can be addressed somehow.’
People need to follow the guidance being provided by authorities, according to Collins.
‘The greatest concern we should all have is for those most vulnerable, who if they get infected could be in real trouble,’ he said. ‘The best thing we could do to prevent that is to not be a vector ourselves, and the best way to not be a vector is to get apart from each other,’ said Collins
‘We are going to have to be in this for the long haul.’ he said.