A senior administration official told CNN that the projection of 100 million potential infections is an estimate based on a set of external models that are closely followed by the administration and will include both fall and winter. Officials say this estimate is based on a basic assumption that there are no additional resources or additional mitigation measures, including new Covid-19 funding from Congress, or dramatic new variables.
The White House is sharing those estimates as officials renew efforts to get Congress to approve additional funding to fight the virus and as the nation approaches the one million coronavirus deaths. Officials said the White House will commemorate the moment the United States passed 1 million deaths from Covid-19.
The Biden administration has been sounding the alarm for weeks that additional funding is needed to continue the federal response to Covid-19, even as it seeks a return to “normality” as many pandemic-era restrictions are lifted.
Officials argued that without new funding, the United States could be left unprepared for future waves.
