Coronavirus could kill 200,000 in US, experts say. How does that compare to flu?

The final toll for coronavirus in the United States may dwarf annual flu deaths, experts say.

The U.S. could see up to 200,000 coronavirus-related deaths, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, predicted on Monday, NBC News reports.

In comparison, the flu killed 34,200 people in the United States during the 2018-2019 season, reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 35.5 million people came down with influenza.

The 2019-2020 flu season hasn’t ended, but the CDC estimates between 29,000 and 59,000 people have died in the United States, reported Health.

More than 1.2 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 65,000 deaths as of April 5, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 312,000 confirmed cases with more than 8,500 deaths.

The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. The United States has declared a national emergency.

Birx called her estimate of U.S. coronavirus deaths a “best-case” scenario, assuming “we do things almost perfectly,” NBC News reported. Projections show up to 2.2 million could die if the U.S. did nothing to contain the outbreak.

“I think in some of the metro areas we were late in getting people to follow the 15-day guidelines,” Birx said, according to the network.

But Birx warned Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “no state, no metro area will be spared.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday the United States could see more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths, CNN reported. He said the actual number of deaths in an outbreak tends to fall somewhere between the best- and worst-case scenarios.

The forecasts helped convince President Donald Trump to extend social-distancing efforts in the nation for another 30 days, through April 30, according to the network.

This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Coronavirus could kill 200,000 in US, experts say. How does that compare to flu?."