CDC Predicts COVID-19 Deaths Will Start To Decrease Next Week As US Gains ‘Control’ Of Coronavirus Cases

The CDC said it expects the number of COVID-19 deaths to decrease over the next week. The prediction was made by CDC Director Robert Redfield on Thursday during an interview with Dr. Howard Bauchner of the Journal of American Medical Association.

The U.S. has seen its death total reach an average of about 1,000 COVID-19 deaths a day, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has had over 174,000 COVID-19 deaths reported since the start of the virus outbreak. The nation has reported over 5.5 million positive coronavirus cases.

Redfield said during the interview that he would like to see the COVID-19 deaths reach an average of 250 new COVID-19 deaths a day – a number the U.S. came close to reporting on one day in July, CNBC said.

“You and I are going to see the cases continue to drop,” Redfield said during the interview. “And then hopefully this week and next week, you’re going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop again. I think we’re going to start to see a decline in mortality across the country now next week as we continue to get control of these cases.”

However, Redfield indicated that the U.S. is still seeing outbreaks in "middle America” states such as Nebraska and Oklahoma are reporting increasing coronavirus cases, which he said was worrying. Nebraska has over 31,000 positive coronavirus cases with over 373 COVID-19 deaths and Oklahoma has reported over 50,600 positive coronavirus cases with over 700 COVID-19 deaths.

“We’re starting to see some of the cases now in the red zone areas are falling, but if you look at those states that are in what we call the yellow zone, between 5% and 10%, they’re not falling, so middle America right now is getting stuck,” Redfield said. “This is why it’s so important for middle America to recognize the mitigation steps that we talked about, about masks, about social distancing, hand washing, closing bars, being smart about crowds.”

Redfield said that the U.S. is starting to “turn the tide.” He said states such as Arizona and Texas that were hit hardest by the pandemic have implemented more safety guidelines that have helped to reduce their number of deaths and positive coronavirus cases. Texas has over 579,000 positive coronavirus cases and over 11,000 COVID-19 deaths and Arizona has reported over 196,000 positive coronavirus cases with over 4,600 COVID-19 deaths, Johns Hopkins indicated.

Redfield also warned about a flu pandemic, stressing the need for the flu shot during the influenza season, which if left to spread, could overwhelm hospitals and cause the death toll to rise.

“We don’t need to have a third wave in the heartland right now,” he said. “We need to prevent that particularly as we’re coming to the fall.”