Coronavirus Deaths Will Be 'Much, Much, Much Lower' Than Predicted Models, Says Head of CDC

Megan Fox | 3:10 PM on April 07, 2020

Vice President Mike Pence, center, with, from left, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health Anthony Fauci, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, Pence, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, speaks to reporters in the Brady press briefing room of the White House, Monday, March 2, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In the ever-changing contradictory nature of information during the pandemic age, the head of the CDC, Robert Redfield, told listeners of Arizona’s 1030 KVOI radio he believes there’s good news ahead. Redfield said the death toll from the Chinese COVID-19 will be “much, much, much lower” than the models have predicted. “If we just social distance, we will see this virus and this outbreak basically decline, decline, decline. And I think that’s what you’re seeing,” he said.

The models the White House is using projected the deaths of between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans. Redfield says models aren’t the end of the story. “Models are only as good as their assumptions, obviously there are a lot of unknowns about the virus,” he said. “A model should never be used to assume that we have a number.”

He continued to praise the American people for taking the social distancing seriously, saying, “I think that’s the direct consequence of why you’re seeing the numbers are going to be much, much, much lower than would have been predicted by the models.”

Redfield has vociferously approved of the social distancing measures taken by the federal and local governments.

CDC Director Robert Redfield says social distancing is "the powerful weapon" against coronavirus: "This virus has a great weakness. It can't jump from one person to another if it's gotta swim more than six feet." https://t.co/b9FtmY5sM4 pic.twitter.com/R6KSekNfEA

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 3, 2020

Dr. Anthony Fauci continues to deny that the virus is under control or that it will do less damage than he has predicted. You can hear the interview with Redfield here starting around the 10:30 mark.

Megan Fox is the author of “Believe Evidence; The Death of Due Process from Salome to #MeToo,” and host of The Fringe podcast. Follow on Twitter @MeganFoxWriter