‘Keep your family and your friends safe.’ A deadly week looms for US, Birx warns

Dr. Deborah Birx had a stark warning Saturday for people sheltering in place across the United States.

“This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe,” Birx said at a White House press briefing, CNN reports.

“The next two weeks are extraordinarily important,” said Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, NPR reported.

She said deaths may peak in the next 6 to 7 days at some hotspots around the nation, including New York, Detroit and Louisiana, USA Today reported.

Several hundred people could die each day in New York City alone, Birx said, according to the publication.

“There will be a lot of death,” President Donald Trump said at the briefing, Newsweek reported.

Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington, D.C., also are concerns as death tolls rise in those areas, Birx said, according to USA Today.

“We are going to see deaths that are going to continue to go up,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Newsweek reported.

“At the same time, we want to focus on (the) number of new cases,” Fauci said, according to the publication. “What we are doing is making a difference so we have to continue to do so.”

More than 1.2 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 70,000 deaths as of April 5, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 337,000 confirmed cases with more than 9,500 deaths.

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

This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 9:26 AM with the headline "‘Keep your family and your friends safe.’ A deadly week looms for US, Birx warns."