HealthDay News–COVID-19 deaths in the United States could reach 233,000 by the end of October, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The prediction is based on data from dozens of independent models. “This week’s national ensemble forecast indicates an uncertain trend in new COVID-19 deaths reported over the next four weeks and predicts that 2,800 to 6,800 new deaths will likely be reported during the week ending October 31,” according to a statement on the CDC website.
COVID-19 has already claimed the lives of more than 212,000 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University.
In other COVID-19-related news, human trials of an experimental nasal spray vaccine for both the new coronavirus and seasonal flu are scheduled to start early next month, Hong Kong researchers say.
The early-stage trials of the dual vaccine — which is meant to trigger an immune response in the nose’s mucous membrane — will enroll about 100 volunteers, the Washington Post reported.
The experimental vaccine is one of dozens of coronavirus vaccines under development worldwide, but apparently the first to also guard against the flu. Public health experts have warned that the combination of the coronavirus pandemic and flu season could overwhelm hospitals, the Post reported.
