U.S. COVID-19 deaths expected to reach 410K by Jan.

U.S. deaths from the coronavirus will reach 410,000 by the end of the year, more than double the current death toll, according to a forecast by the University of Washington's health institute on Friday. And the deaths could soar to 3,000 per day in December, which would more than triple the current death rate.

The institute, which made waves earlier this year when its aggressive forecasts contrasted with President Trump's repeated statements that COVID-19 would disappear, said that deaths could be reduced by 30% if more Americans wore face masks.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Friday berated President Donald Trump, saying he should’ve done more to have controlled the virus from the beginning.

“If the president just did his job, if he took the virus seriously early on in January and February as it spread around the globe… If you just set a good example like social distancing and wearing a mask, it's not too much to ask. It's almost like he doesn't care. He doesn't affect him because it doesn't affect him or his class of friends.”

Although the infection rates have recently fallen in some large states like Florida and California, the United States still leads the planet with more than 186,000 COVID-19 deaths and 6.1 million coronavirus infections.

And yet Trump on Friday had a positive take on the U.S. response.

“The numbers are way down as you know, Florida is doing very well, Arizona's been actually little bit of a miracle how quickly it went down, it's went up and then it went down, and that's because of the convalescent plasma and remdesivir."

The University of Washington's health institute said COVID-19 was now the second leading cause of death in the U.S., placing it behind only heart disease and surpassing cancer.