White House officials estimate 100K to 240K deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19

White House officials project roughly 240,000 fatalities due to the coronavirus pandemic. Yahoo Finance’s Jess Smith breaks down the latest developments.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: But we have to talk about the economic impact from coronavirus. Here is what President Trump said and why markets are selling off today.

DONALD TRUMP: It's absolutely critical for the American people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days. It's a matter of life and death, frankly. It's a matter of life and death.

ADAM SHAPIRO: So the focus right now on how Washington is responding, preparing the whole country. Jess Smith is our correspondent in DC. What's the latest, Jess?

JESS SMITH: Well, yesterday's briefing was very grim. It was a sobering briefing. You heard President Trump there saying that it's a life-or-death situation. The task force presented some charts, some modeling that showed the death projections of this virus, and those projections were really what guided the president's decision to extend those social distancing guidelines for another 30 days. And those projections said that even with the mitigation measures that the US is taking right now, 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die at the end of this.

Now, Dr. Fauci said that he hopes that is not the case, but the US needs to brace for the fact that that could happen. And the president did seem to acknowledge just how bad this situation could get. Of course, he had said previously that the situation is under control. He floated the idea of opening up the country again by Easter. And he's likened this virus to the flu. But yesterday he said this is not the flu. He said it is vicious. And he said that Americans need to prepare for a rough two weeks ahead. Adam.