Vice President Mike Pence warned that the United States needs to stop the spread of the coronavirus in order to avoid mimicking Italy’s outbreak.
“We think Italy may be the most comparable area to the United States at this point,” Pence told CNN on Wednesday. “Our message yesterday, our message over the next 30 days, is the future is in our hands.”
The White House extended coronavirus guidelines on Sunday through the end of April in order to stem the spread of the virus. The vice president said the guideline extension could help push death estimations down if people continue to follow the social distancing recommendations.
Expert virologist Dr. Anthony Fauci warned over the weekend that the U.S. could expect up to 100,000 to 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases also estimated there could be millions of cases nationwide.
So far, the U.S. has over 190,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 4,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Italy, which has less than one-fifth of the population of the U.S., has over 105,000 confirmed cases and over 12,000 deaths.
President Trump said Sunday that he expects the peak of the coronavirus to hit the U.S. within two weeks.
