A GROUP of leading American scientists are warning lifting the coronavirus lockdown too early would cause a human and economic catastrophe.
It comes as Donald Trump continues to encourage states to reopen in a hope the gradual comeback will kick-start the economy — after admitting 100,000 could perish from Covid-19.
So far more than 70,000 Americans have died and more than 30 million have been thrown out of work.
Speaking at the White House today, the President said: “Now it’s time to go back to work.”
But Yaneer Bar-Yam, from EndCoronavirus.org, a group made up of scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said America was not in the position to open up because it was slow off the mark with its lockdown.
Tweeting a graphic comparing countries that have crushed the curve, he said: “Overwhelming data says opening prematurely will increase cases, escalate loss of life and economic harm.
“Countries that acted late to impose social distancing and testing are suffering.
“Countries that acted early soon will safely restart economies.
“ Don’t play with fire.”
Many public health experts believe the nation cannot safely reopen fully until a vaccine is developed. Trump declared on Sunday that he believed one could be available by years end.
Yet US public health officials have said a vaccine is probably a year to 18 months away.
Though the administration’s handling of the pandemic, particularly its ability to conduct widespread testing, has come under fierce scrutiny, the president tried to shift the blame to China and said the U.S. was ready to begin reopening.
Thousands of protesters have been demonstrating across the US to ease restrictions, many of them waving American flags and wearing hats and shirts in support of Trump.
Yesterday the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) forecast that COVID-19 deaths in the United States could reach about 135,000 by early August as social-distancing measures are relaxed, double the model’s previous forecast.
The novel coronavirus already is known to have infected almost 1.2 million people in the United States, including at least 70,000 who have died from COVID-19, the respiratory illness it causes, according to a Reuters tally.
Democratic politicians and some Republicans have criticized Trump for playing down the threat of the virus.
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