The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted Wednesday that more than 62,000 people could die from infectious-disease over the course of the next four weeks.
In a Monday update, the agency wrote that 10,400 to 31,000 new deaths will likely be reported in the week ending Feb. 5.
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The CDC added that state- and territory-level ensemble forecasts predict the number of newly reported deaths per week over the next month will likely increase in 33 jurisdictions.
In addition, it said that national forecasts predict 17,900-48,000 new hospitalizations will likely be reported on Feb. 4.
The U.S. reported 2,421 new deaths in the past day and 12,442 over the past week, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Since the pandemic’s beginning, 844,562 people in America have died of COVID-19.
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The CDC also pointed out that recent national total death forecasts have “shown low reliability, with more reported deaths than expected falling outside the forecast prediction intervals.”
As the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to infect across the nation, cases and hospitalizations have risen to record highs.
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In a White House COVID-19 response team press briefing, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that the delta variant was responsible for an observed 47% increase in deaths over the previous week.
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“We have seen … the death rates are down from omicron of about 91%. And, we will need to follow those deaths over the next couple of weeks to see the impact of omicron on mortality,” she said. “As you note, given the sheer number of cases, we may see deaths from omicron. But, I suspect the deaths that we’re seeing now are still from delta.”
