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More than 61,000 people could die in the US from Covid-19 over the next 4 weeks, CDC forecast predicts
From CNN's Virginia Langmaid
An ensemble forecast from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Wednesday predicts more than 61,000 additional people could die from Covid-19 over the next four weeks.
This is the third week that deaths are predicted to have a stable or uncertain trend after predicted increases since late December.
The CDC included projections that indicate the number of deaths per week will plateau in the next couple of weeks and then begin to decline.
The forecast predicts that there could be a total of 942,000 to 978,000 deaths reported by March 5.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Covid-19 has killed more than 900,000 people in the United States.
The forecast could mean an average of 2,576 Covid-19 deaths a day, up from a current average of 2,481 per day, according to JHU data.
Hospitalizations: For the third week, hospitalizations are predicted to decrease, with 1,000 to 11,800 new confirmed Covid-19 hospital admissions likely reported on March 4. There are currently 104,090 people hospitalized with Covid-19, according to US Department of Health and Human Services data.
Cases: The forecast for cases again did not predict an increase or decrease or give a predicted number of cases.
“Recent case forecasts have shown low reliability,” according to the CDC. “Therefore, case forecasts will continue to be collected and analyzed but will not be summarized until sustained improvements in performance are observed.”