WH Coronavirus Response Coordinator: 200,000 Virus Deaths Expected ‘if We Do Things Almost Perfectly’

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx projected Monday that the U.S. will see as many as 200,000 deaths at the end of the pandemic, but only if we “if we do things perfectly.” In an interview on NBC’s Today show Monday, Birx said she is “very worried about every city in the United States” and believes that without drastic social-distancing measures, the nation could see more than 2 million fatalities in a worst-case scenario. “I think everyone understands now that you can go from five to 50 to 500 to 5,000 cases very quickly,” Birx said. “I think in some of the metro areas we were late in getting people to follow the 15-day guidelines.” Chillingly, Birx added that she believes the best-case scenario of 200,000 deaths will only occur if “100 percent of Americans doing precisely what is required, but we’re not sure that all of America is responding in a uniform way to protect one another,” before referencing images that circulated on social media over the weekend of residents ignoring still CDC guidelines.