CDC Director: 100,000 Coronavirus Deaths by June

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday evening admitted he expects 100,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 by June 1.

Dr. Robert Redfield (photo, to Trump’s left) delivered the disturbing news, which he says is four days old, via Twitter.

CDC tracks 12 different forecasting models of possible #COVID19 deaths in the US. As of May 11, all forecast an increase in deaths in the coming weeks and a cumulative total exceeding 100,000 by June 1. See national & state forecasts: https://t.co/PI1AtLCCmt pic.twitter.com/iylBnom5U0

— Dr. Robert R. Redfield (@CDCDirector) May 15, 2020

It’s not known why he did not report this news earlier.

CNN notes Dr. Redfield’s tweet “comes after researchers at the University of Washington revised the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model on Tuesday — often cited by the White House — upward to 147,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by August 4.”

President Donald Trump has said if coronavirus deaths stay below 60,000 he will have done a good job. He later upped that to 65,000.

At the end of March Trump upped those numbers to 100,000 to 200,000, saying if the number of coronavirus deaths fall in that range “we altogether have done a very good job.”