The University of Washington has slightly lowered its projection of how many people are likely to die from coronavirus in the United States by October 1.
The university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) now forecasts 175,168 total deaths by October 1, based on the current scenario. But if almost everyone wears a face mask, that number would fall to just over 150,000, the IHME projected.
Last week, the IHME forecast 179,106 deaths by October 1 if nothing changed but said that would drop to 146,000 if 95% of Americans started wearing masks in public.
The current model shows daily deaths leveling out starting this week -- at 630 or so deaths a day -- and staying fairly constant if states continue to ease their restrictions on economic activity. It shows daily death rates dropping fast to just 71 deaths a day with universal mask requirements, however.
So far, according to Johns Hopkins University, more than 2.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with coronavirus infections and at least 126,000 have died.







