Covid 19 Task Force Update

White House
Covid-19 Task Force

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY

“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before victory was won.”

President Trump on extending nationwide social distancing guidelines to April 30th. The White House will present a strategy for the next several weeks on Tuesday, March 31st. The President added he expects the country will be “well on its way to recovery” by June 1st.

“We really built this on scientific evidence and the ability to save hundreds of thousands of lives.”

Dr. Deborah Birx explaining how the Task Force develops its recommendations. One model showed an estimate of more than 2.2 million deaths if America did NOT put public health measures in place. Another model noted by Birx, considers that WITH public health measures, est. deaths will top 81,000+. For context, the number of flu deaths estimated so far this year is 24,000.

“A model is as good as the assumptions you put into the model.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci on the complex scientific estimates he uses to help inform policies. Dr. Fauci said "instead of getting overly anxious about the extremes" or worst case scenarios that models have to consider, he aims to use the models to inspire policies that accomplish results better than the predictions.

View one of the models used by the White House on our source page.