After bout with Covid, West Virginia governor urges others get vaccines and booster shots

An ensemble forecast from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Wednesday predicts that over 61,000 more people could die from Covid-19 over the next four weeks. 

According to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), coronavirus has killed 854,076 people in the United States. 

The forecast could mean an average of 2,575 Covid-19 deaths a day, up from a current average of 1,576 per day, according to JHU data. 

The CDC included projections that indicate the number of deaths will steadily, but slowly rise for the first three weeks, followed by a decrease in the last week. 

Hospitalizations are predicted to remain stable or have an uncertain trend after eight weeks of predicted increases, with 9,600 to 36,900 new confirmed Covid-19 hospital admissions likely reported on Feb. 11. 

There are currently 154,335 people hospitalized with Covid-19, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. 

The forecast for cases did not predict an increase or decrease, or give a predicted number of cases. 

“Recent case forecasts have shown low reliability, with more reported cases than expected falling outside the forecast prediction intervals for 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-week ahead case forecasts. Therefore, case forecasts will continue to be collected and analyzed but will not be summarized until sustained improvements in performance are observed,” the CDC said.