The Hill apparently didn’t think that Americans were panicked enough about the coronavirus, so they decided to promote some worst-case models that estimate the U.S. death toll to eventually reach more than 1.5 million people.

Worst-case coronavirus models show US death toll at over 1.5 million https://t.co/qHTBGv4jSg pic.twitter.com/VTFXpvFw5I — The Hill (@thehill) March 14, 2020

Reid Wilson reports:

One model from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested that between 160 million and 210 million Americans could contract the disease over as long as a year. Based on mortality data and current hospital capacity, the number of deaths under the CDC’s scenarios ranged from 200,000 to as many as 1.7 million. … Another model built by experts at Resolve to Save Lives, a global health nonprofit, and the Council on Foreign Relations found the number of potential deaths could range from as few as 163,500, if the virus is no more deadly than seasonal influenza, to more than 1.6 million if the virus carries a mortality rate of just 1 percent.

So statistical models say the U.S. death toll could range anywhere from 163,500 to 1.7 million. Got it.

Worst-case scenario – the sun explodes tomorrow. Playing the fear porn “if” game is fun. — Catturd ™ (@catturd2) March 14, 2020

Today there’s 55. That includes the nursing home in Washington. Give me a break — HeyMike (@Pretzel__Logic) March 14, 2020

This is fear mongering — Lisa (@Dallas_TXGirl) March 14, 2020

Scare clicks are pitiful — Jessica Fletcher (@heckyessica) March 14, 2020

The media is the enemy of the people. https://t.co/CpBOnrtmR4 — Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) March 14, 2020

Another news feed that is instilling fear and unnecessary panic. For all you hypochondriacs out there, please turn off your TV. https://t.co/8qooNEJsm9 — Aubrey Huff (@aubrey_huff) March 14, 2020

Stop ? Spreading ? Fear ? https://t.co/Xk20t3VA7u — Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) March 14, 2020

Not fear-mongering at all… — Destructive Chemistry (@DestructiveChem) March 14, 2020

Only 1,496,807 more than China has after four months of it. And since they're seeing only a few dozen new cases every day, they're gonna have a long way to go to catch up to us! — Aldous Huxley's Ghost™ (@AF632) March 14, 2020

Irresponsible fearmongering. “Those worst-case scenarios assume societies take no action against the virus-and in some cases the eye-popping numbers can spur a community to action.” Throw hypothetical data at the masses to scare them into action? Contributes to supply shortage. https://t.co/jtItysU2dV — VF Castro (@TheVFCastro) March 14, 2020

The same people must make both these models and the climate change models. https://t.co/UowpBfPp0X — CDP ?⚾? (@cdpayne79) March 14, 2020

This is like liberal climate projections, but on roids — Kano911 (@Kano9112) March 14, 2020

This is garbage. And if this doesn’t happen, do you guys at @thehill feel even remotely responsible to people who read this? https://t.co/WwrzaHYri2 — Chris Stigall (@ChrisStigall) March 14, 2020

Honest to god you people need to stop this fear mongering bull crap. https://t.co/xg021xzBhC — The Dank Knight ? (@capeandcowell) March 14, 2020

In a few months if we're looking back on this time and the media created hysteria that never actually came to fruition I really hope the media pay. There are real people being hurt by your hysteria for ratings and politics. — Jim Peeps (@Jimpeeps12) March 14, 2020

The Hill has reached @CNN fear monger status. — Chris (@CDEchols1969) March 14, 2020

This is irresponsible journalism. @PoliticsReid

this helps no one. It just causes panic and fear mongering. — Charles X Proxy™ (@Charlemagne0814) March 14, 2020

Stop this shit. Helps absolutely no one. — Dog guy (@Catsorange1) March 14, 2020

“This is a rapidly evolving situation and information is changing quickly. Estimates based on data from other countries might not be applicable to the United States and it is unclear how the COVID-19 situation will play out in this country,” a CDC spokesman said.

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