May 6th 2020

By Dan Desai Martin

American Independent Foundation

Even as the death toll from the new coronavirus continues to rise, Donald Trump is focused on the stock market.

A Trump administration internal document predicts that the daily death toll from the virus will reach 3,000 by June 1, which would be a 70% increase from the current number of deaths per day, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Yet before boarding Air Force One to visit Arizona on Tuesday, Trump took time to brag about stocks.

And right now, the stock market’s way up. Everybody’s excited.

They’re going back to work. Safely. But they’re going back to work.

We’re opening up our country again. And this is what we’re doing.

And I’ll tell you: The whole world is excited, watching us, because we’re leading the world.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 1,186,900 people in the United States have been confirmed to have the coronavirus, and at least 68,843 people have died. The same model reported by the Times predicts 200,000 new coronavirus cases every day by the end of May.

The Times also reported that the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, using a different model, estimated 135,000 deaths in the United States by August.

Researchers said the upward revision was due in part to “rising mobility in most U.S. states as well as the easing of social distancing measures expected in 31 states by May 11, indicating that growing contacts among people will promote transmission of the coronavirus.”

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