The projection by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation comes with a silver lining: About 70,000 of those lives would be saved if many more Americans wore masks, the institute's leader said. But changes in behavior would affect the projection, he said:• If governments ease current social distancing restrictions and mask mandates, daily death rates could reach 6,000 daily by December, up from his current prediction of 2,000 daily, Murray said. • On the other hand, if significantly more people wore masks, the projection of total deaths from now to December would drop by almost 70,000, he said. Coronavirus case rates have been dropping for weeks in parts of the US, but death rates have been relatively elevated. Some have adjusted plans after hundreds of students and staff were asked to quarantine in response to coronavirus cases.

Source: CNN August 22, 2020 07:26 UTC