NEW YORK (Reuters) – With early signs that the coronavirus outbreak is plateauing in New York and other hot spots, some U.S. health officials say the pandemic may kill fewer Americans than recent projections, while racial disparities in the death toll have started to emerge.
FILE PHOTO: A Healthcare worker wheels the body of a deceased person into makeshift morgue outside the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 6, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Tuesday said he concurred with the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that some research models had projected death totals that may prove too high, though neither would offer an alternate estimate.
Authorities have championed “social distancing” and other mitigation policies, saying they were having a positive effect in fighting the spread of the pathogen in the United States but warned against complacency.
More than 90% of Americans are under stay-at-home orders issued by state governors.
A day after the governors of New York, New Jersey and Louisiana cited data that offered a glimmer of hope, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it was too early to declare that a corner had been turned in the fight against the coronavirus but he pointed to some encouraging developments.
“I can say in the last couple of days, something is starting to change. We don’t know if it will be sustained but it is meaningful now,” de Blasio told a news conference on Tuesday.
The White House coro