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Trump says coronavirus 'peak in death rate' likely in 2 weeks, extends social-distancing guidelines through April 30

President Trump declared that "the peak in death rate" in the coronavirus pandemic "is likely to hit in two weeks," and said the federal government will be extending its social-distancing guidelines through April 30.

"The modeling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks. I will say it again. The peak, the highest point of death rates, remember this, is likely to hit in two weeks... Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30, to slow the spread," the president said in the White House Rose Garden.

Saying his earlier hope that the country could reopen by Easter was "just an aspiration," Trump added: "We can expect that by June 1, we will be well on our way to recovery" and that "a lot of great things will be happening."

When asked about worst-case scenarios if the country were to remain closed indefinitely, the president responded, "You're gonna have large numbers of suicides -- tremendous [numbers of] suicides... You will see drugs being used like nobody has ever used them before, and people are going to be dying all over the place."

On a positive note, Trump went on to say that "two of the country's largest health insurers -- Humana and Cigna -- have announced that they will waive copays, coinsurance, and deductibles for coronavirus treatments."

In response to a question at the briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reiterated his estimate from earlier in the day that it remained possible that 100,000 to 200,000 people could die in the United States. "What we’re trying to do is not let that happen," he said, calling the extension of social-distancing guidelines "a wise and prudent decision." Over 2,300 people with the virus already have died in the U.S.

"Models are good, but models often generate the kind of anxious question you asked," Fauci said when a reporter asked how bad the situation could become. "A model is as good as the assumptions you put into the model, and very often, many of these assumptions are based on the complexity of issues that aren't necessarily the same... from one country to another."

Fauci said the April 30 extension came after he, Dr. Deborah Birx and other members of the task force had made the recommendation.