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Thursday, 28 March 2024

Vigilance leading to hopeful signs in U.S. outbreak

Duration: 02:42s 0 shares 4 views

Vigilance leading to hopeful signs in U.S. outbreak
Vigilance leading to hopeful signs in U.S. outbreak

With early signs that the coronavirus outbreak is plateauing in New York and other hot spots, and with strict stay-at-home orders still in place, some U.S. health officials say the pandemic may kill fewer Americans than recent projections.

Lisa Bernhard has more.

(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. SURGEON GENERAL JEROME ADAMS, SAYING: "When we've dealt with tough times in the past, the country has rallied.

And what we're seeing now, the country IS rallying." With early signs that the coronavirus outbreak is plateauing in New York and other hot spots and with stay-at-home orders in place throughout most of the country, some U.S. health officials are now saying the pandemic may kill fewer Americans than recent models have projected - including one done a week ago by the White House task force, which estimated at least 100,000 deaths in the U.S. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams was pressed on the issue on CBS.

(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) CBS NEWS ANCHOR NORAH O'DONNELL, SAYING: "Does that mean if we're beginning to see the flattening of the curve that we may not reach that projected number of one hundred-thousand deaths?" (SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. SURGEON GENERAL JEROME ADAMS, SAYING: "I am hopeful that we won't reach that peak.

And I'm hopeful because the projections that we've been working with were based on data from other countries.

We're seeing more and more data coming in from the U.S. and that's informing these projections in a new and better way." (SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING: "The pain is increasing, the grief is increasing...." But amid the rising optimism, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday delivered some sobering numbers.

(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING: "The bad news is 5,489 New Yorkers have lost their lives in this virus.

That is up from 4,758.

That is the largest single day increase.

That's 731 people who we lost." The most deaths in a single day in the state follows days when the numbers were flat.

But Cuomo did say New York may be reaching a plateau in the total number of hospitalizations - with sufficient supplies to handle its cases.

With Italy and Spain also showing signs of new cases and deaths leveling off – and China reporting its first day with no deaths from the virus – there is much talk about when countries and their economies can re-open.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said it has no blanket recommendation for when to ease restrictions to slow the spread of the virus but urged governments not to lift them too early.

That's a point every top U.S. health official has made, especially the surgeon general - who even put out a video teaching Americans how to make their own masks.

(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. SURGEON GENERAL JEROME ADAMS, SAYING: "We know mitigation is working.

We will get through this, we are seeing progress, but America has the power to change the trajectory of this epidemic.

The public really needs to keep doing their part." More than 11,000 people have died of the virus in the U.S., with more than 370,000 confirmed cases.

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