A total of 93,000 D.C. residents are projected to get the coronavirus, with the peak in late June, Mayor Muriel Bowser said Friday.
“This is a tough number to have to report, but we think we’d rather be on the side of underestimating the impacts of social distancing than presenting too rosy a picture,” Miss Bowser said at her press conference at the D.C. Armory Friday morning.
Miss Bowser said she is using the CHIME model, which underestimates the impact of social distancing, compared to the IHME model that shows the city reaching a peak number of cases in April.
Although the city isn’t relying on the IHME model, hospitals are preparing to have an additional 1,000 hospital beds by April 15 just in case.
“Sadly, though we know and we see our fellow Americans in states around the country we know many people who won’t survive,” Miss Bowser said. “We expect we could experience a range of loss of life.”
The D.C. Department of Health on Friday announced 104 new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, bringing the District’s total to 757 out of a population of about 700,000. Of the 757 cases, 206 patients are in recovery.
Three more residents have died from the virus, the health department said, bringing the total to 15.
The CHIME model predicts anywhere from about 200 residents to more than 1,000 people will die from COVID-19.
Miss Bowser said she can say for certain schools won’t open April 27, and will work with the city’s school officials to set a firm date.
The D.C. government is working with health care providers to free up and procure more space for hospital beds by postponing elective procedures, adding beds to available space in hospitals, reopening furloughed health care facilities and adding new health care sites.
Government officials said they are looking at 39 sites around the city, such as college dorms, the convention center and hotels as sites to meet the need of 5,000 additional beds for the surge.
The city needs 600,000 N95 masks, 5.6 million surgical masks, 1.4 million gowns, 350,000 face shields and 40 million gloves.
• Sophie Kaplan can be reached at skaplan@washingtontimes.com.
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