562,000 US Covid-19 deaths projected by April -- up significantly from last update

[r2d2]

The influential coronavirus model at the University of Washington is projecting 562,000 Americans will have died from Covid-19 by April 1, 2021 -- up significantly from the prediction it made last week, when it forecast 502,000 deaths by that date.

The model from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) says the increase is due to surges in cases and deaths, with particularly large increases in California. This is putting a huge amount of stress on the hospital system.

“47 states will have high or extreme stress on hospital beds at some point in December through April,” IHME predicted. “49 states will have high or extreme stress on ICU capacity in December through April.”

“Overall, we expect the national daily death toll to continue increasing to a peak of over 3,750 in mid-January,” the statement reads.