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US Health Expert: Coronavirus Could Kill 100,000 in US

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - The top U.S. government infectious disease expert, Dr.
   Anthony Fauci, predicted Sunday that 100,000or moreAmericans could die
   from the coronavirus pandemic, 50 timesthe current death toll.

   Fauci told CNN that the U.S. could have "millions of cases" of
   COVID-19, a vast spread of the pandemic in the country, where
   officialsnow officially count 124,000 confirmed cases and 2,100 deaths,
   although both figures are rapidly increasing by the day.

   Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
   Diseases, and Dr. ThomasInglesby,director of the Center for Health
   Security at Johns Hopkins University,bothrebuffedsuggestions by
   President Donald Trumpthat the adviceto stay home andsocial distance
   with other peopleto prevent the spread of the coronaviruscan beeased.
   Trump suggested last weekthat U.S. businesses would be "raring to go"by
   Easter Sunday in two weeks.

   Fauci said he would only support any easing of anti-coronavirus
   protections in lesser-impacted regions of the countryif there
   isincreasedavailability of testing to monitor those areas. Buthe said,
   "It's a little iffy there"currently.

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