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White House Projects 100,000 To 240,000 U.S. Deaths From Virus

   DailyWire.com
on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Trump warned Americans that it's "going to be a painful two weeks" and the virus was the worst thing the country had ever seen as the disease continued to spread around the country. Photographer:
Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

President Trump on Tuesday said Americans should brace for a “hell of a bad two weeks” coming, and  projected there could be up to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic, regardless of the measures taken to date to mitigate the spread.

At a daily White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations’ top infectious disease expert, offered some optimism. “This is a number that we need to anticipate, but we don’t necessarily have to accept it as being inevitable,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force.

In a somber press conference, Trump said the coming weeks will be a “a matter of life and death” for Americans, urging them to heed the administration’s guidelines to practice social distancing and stay home.

“As a nation we’re going to have a really rough two weeks. Our strength will be tested and our endurance will be tried,” Trump said. “This could be a hell of a bad two weeks. This is going to be a very bad two or maybe even three weeks. This is going to be three weeks like we’ve never seen before.”

“The surge is coming, and it’s coming pretty strong,” the president said in the White House briefing room. “As a nation we face a difficult few weeks as we approach that really important day when we going see things get better all of a sudden. And its going to be like a burst of light.”

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” Trump said. “This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks we’ve ever had in our country. … We’re going to lose thousands of people.”

But he said there is a “light at the end of the tunnel” in a pandemic that has killed more than 3,800 Americans and infected nearly 170,000 more.

There was other grim news.

“There’s no magic bullet,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. “There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors. Each of our behaviors, translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic.”

Fauci said the new projections are “sobering” as he urged all Americans to “step on the accelerator” and heed the calls to isolate.

“We are continuing to see things go up,” Fauci said. “We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work.”

Trump said all things considered, it’s not as bad as originally projected.

“You know 100,000 is, according to modeling, a very low number. In fact, when I first saw the number … they said it was unlikely you’ll be able to attain that. We have to see but I think we’re doing better than that,” he said.

Trump, 73, also said he planned to cut off his travel to safeguard his health. “I think it’s important that I remain healthy. I really do,” Trump said. “So for the most part we’re staying here.”

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