Coronavirus infections in the United States are much higher than the 7.6 million recorded so far by Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project, according to Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Almost certainly there have actually been more than 40 million people infected by this virus in the US,” Frieden said Saturday during CNN’s town hall.
“And that's why there have been well over 200,000 deaths,” Frieden said. “The death rate is a fact and it's a tragedy and we need not to get hardened to the reality that these are health care workers, these are mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, and it's going on every day.”
Frieden also predicted that with the current surge in cases across the country, as many as 20,000 more people could die from the virus by the end of the month.
Frieden said the most important thing anyone can do is to follow the science and the public health guidelines for mitigating the spread.
“That's why we all have to recognize that we're in this together. There's only one enemy, and that's the virus," he said.