100,000 dead Americans: Trump revises US coronavirus toll forecast

Only two weeks ago, the president was predicting 50,000 or 60,000 Americans might die. But on Sunday, he acknowledged the parameters had changed

White House coronavirus coordinator Dr Deborah Birx said the toll could rise as high as nearly a quarter-million deaths

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US President Donald Trump pictured during a commercial break of a Fox News virtual town hall event called ‘America Together: Returning to Work’ at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:57pm, 4 May 2020Updated: 7:56pm, 4 May 2020

US President Donald Trump has sharply revised upwards his projected toll of the country’s coronavirus deaths, saying that fatalities could reach 100,000, even as he defied warnings from leading public health experts and renewed his calls for a quick reopening of businesses across the country.

Speaking at a Fox News event staged at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, Trump acknowledged being warned in late January about the threat posed by the virus, but faulted officials who he said delivered their assessment “matter-of-factly – it was not a big deal.”

Earlier Sunday, health experts from inside and outside the government warned the outbreak may flare up more fiercely in coming months, even as many US states are moving to ease stay-at-home restrictions.

Several of the nation’s governors, meanwhile, acknowledged they were walking a tightrope, fearing intensified outbreaks even as some of them embarked on reopenings meant to ease deep economic distress in their states.

Dr Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, pictured in the Oval Office. Photo: AP

As the US death toll rose, White House coronavirus coordinator Dr Deborah Birx implicitly acknowledged that Trump, as recently as last month, had been too optimistic about likely fatalities.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday”, Birx said the administration continued to operate on the assumption that the more likely scenario called for as many as nearly a quarter-million deaths – even with shutdown measures taken to date.