If the US ends social distancing and other coronavirus mitigation strategies by May 1, as President Donald Trump has encouraged, case numbers in the country could rebound, officials warned.
The projections are based on new modeling scenarios run by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington that assume social distancing policies will end from next month.
“The risk of rebound is very great,” IHME Director Dr. Chris Murray told CNN late Friday.
The projections are based on new modeling scenarios run by IHME that assume social distancing policies will end from next month.
The research center plans to release state-level analyses based on the new models next week, Murray said.
The warning comes after Trump said he wanted to reopen the country’s economy, despite many researchers and medical staff saying it’s far too early for such a move.
“I would love to open (the economy). I have not determined anything, the facts are going to determine what I do. But we do want to get the country opened, so important,” Trump said at a briefing on Friday.