News Opinons Politics

CDC Director: Coronavirus Death Toll Will Be ‘Much, Much, Much Lower’ than Projected

Appearing Monday on AM 1030 KVOI Radio, Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), predicted that the death toll from the Chinese coronavirus will be “much, much, much lower” than the models have projected due to Americans following social distancing recommendations.


Connecticut Dems Facing Legal Trouble in Desperate Attempt to Ban Glocks
Sanders says Platner has the ‘guts’ to fight billionaires despite growing scandal pileup
Ohio Gov. DeWine Revokes AI Data Center Tax Break Measures
Will the Force ever awaken?
High-profile convicts lobby for rumored Trump pardons ahead of 250th anniversary
Overall success: The small-town appeal of vintage workwear
Rubio braces for Hill grilling as Republicans join bid to curb Trump’s Iran war powers
From reality TV to city hall? Trump-backed Spencer Pratt soars in LA mayor race as Californians vote
Trump makes late-night endorsements in six states ahead of Tuesday primaries, including California
Florida beach toll booth worker killed after driver rams structure before getting stuck in sand, sheriff says
Jared Kushner’s overseas luxury resort project faces anti-corruption investigation amid violent protests
Senate Democrats offer little support as Platner faces new sexting controversy: ‘Staying out of it’
Texas teens accused of using dating apps to lure young men into violent robberies that left one victim shot
Meet the Left’s Merchant of Hate
The Truth About Genocide in America: What North American Indians Were Doing to Each Other When Europeans Arrived


 

HOST: We were talking about some of the models, whether it’s from the imperial college guy in England or the University of Washington. Thank god some of these numbers are falling short of some of these catastrophic numbers. Tell me about the dynamic of the modeling and how it helps and influences decision making and then, when the reality comes in, how does the decision making transform?

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD: I think it’s really important. First, models are only as good as their assumptions. Obviously, there was a lot unknown about this virus. The ability to actively make a lot of assumptions was much wider than if this was an Influenza B outbreak. Second thing, I will say from a public health perspective, to me, the real value of models is to have a model and then try to understand — if I invest resources here, what does that do to the model? If I invest in intervention strategies here, what does that do to the model? It’s a way of beta testing how you’re going to respond and what it does to the different models. And models should never be used to assume that we have a number. You saw those numbers are quite staggering. You’ve got 200,000 to 2 million Americans are losing their lives before the fall. That’s a pretty staggering number.

HOST: Are throwing those kind of numbers out actually helpful because what they do is scare the hell out of everyone to social distance? Is that the purpose?


Connecticut Dems Facing Legal Trouble in Desperate Attempt to Ban Glocks
Sanders says Platner has the ‘guts’ to fight billionaires despite growing scandal pileup
Ohio Gov. DeWine Revokes AI Data Center Tax Break Measures
Will the Force ever awaken?
High-profile convicts lobby for rumored Trump pardons ahead of 250th anniversary
Overall success: The small-town appeal of vintage workwear
Rubio braces for Hill grilling as Republicans join bid to curb Trump’s Iran war powers
From reality TV to city hall? Trump-backed Spencer Pratt soars in LA mayor race as Californians vote
Trump makes late-night endorsements in six states ahead of Tuesday primaries, including California
Florida beach toll booth worker killed after driver rams structure before getting stuck in sand, sheriff says
Jared Kushner’s overseas luxury resort project faces anti-corruption investigation amid violent protests
Senate Democrats offer little support as Platner faces new sexting controversy: ‘Staying out of it’
Texas teens accused of using dating apps to lure young men into violent robberies that left one victim shot
Meet the Left’s Merchant of Hate
The Truth About Genocide in America: What North American Indians Were Doing to Each Other When Europeans Arrived

DR. REDFIELD: I think different people may look at it in different ways in terms of transparency. CDC had models early on. We didn’t really publicize the models. We used them internally to understand deviation strategies. I think part of the importance of getting the American public’s attention that these models did, we really need the American public to be fully engaged now with great rigor and vigilance on the social distancing. As you pointed out, those models that were done, they assume only about 50 percent of the American public would pay attention to the recommendations. In fact, what we’re seeing is a large majority of the American public are taking the social distancing recommendations to heart. And I think that’s the direct consequence of why you’re seeing the numbers are going to be much, much, much lower than would have been predicted by the models.

Story cited here.

See also  US denies reports of evacuating US Embassy in Kyiv amid threats of Russian airstrikes
Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter