Trump says US deaths to be 'substantially' under 100K

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. will record "substantially" fewer deaths than the 100,000 that was projected early on, U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday as the country sees signs the worst national outbreak in the world may be waning.

"The minimum number was 100,000 lives and I think we’ll be substantially under that number," Trump told reporters at the White House. "Hard to believe that if you had 60,000, you could never be happy, but that's a lot fewer than we were originally thinking."

"We're seeing clear signs that our aggressive strategy is saving countless lives," he added.

Dr. Deborah Birx, who is leading the White House's coronavirus response team, said the U.S. is starting to "level" off on its rate of infection, which she said "gives us great heart."

Much of the leveling-off has to do with improvements in New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, Birx said.

The city has a daunting 92,384 confirmed infections and 5,820 COVID-19-related deaths, according to data being compiled by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Still, Surgeon General Jerome Adams cautioned that while parts of the country may resume normal life by the time current federal social distancing guidelines expire on May 1, most of the U.S. will continue to need to follow the measures.

Trump had originally hoped to reopen the country “by Easter.” At the end of March, he moved back the social distancing guidelines to April 30.

It now seems that the government will need to push back the date again. However, Adams said that there are parts of the country that might be ready to reopen on May 1.

“That’s how we’ll open the country – place by place, bit by bit, based on the data,” Adams said during a Fox News interview.

The U.S. has a total of 486,994 confirmed coronavirus infections, 18,022 fatalities, and 27,612 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins.