GENE SIMMONS Says Latest Coronavirus Death Projections Are 'Not Good'

Gene Simmons has expressed his sadness over the fact that coronavirus deaths in the U.S. are expected to nearly double as states continue to ease social distancing restrictions.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE) released a revised mortality model predicting coronavirus deaths will reach 135,000 by August, up considerably from its April 29 forecast of 72,433 deaths.

On Tuesday (May 5),Simmons took to his Twitter to share a CNN chart showing how quickly the number of known COVID-19 cases is growing, with the number of known cases in the U.S. doubling about every four weeks. This prompted one of his Twitter followers to ask: "Isn't this good news? Doesn't more cases mean increased testing, so the deaths to cases ratio continues to go down?" Within an hour, Gene replied: "Unfortunately, the news is not good. We are literally having 3,000 or so new COVID-19 infections EVERY DAY. Multiply that by 365 days. In the next few months, we are told the death rate will be anywhere from 130,000 to 200,000 people. Sadly."

Coronavirus has killed more than 71,000 people in the U.S. and infected more than 1,200,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

An internal Trump administration forecast obtained by The New York Times predicts the daily death toll will reach about 3,000 on June 1. It also projects there will be 200,000 new coronavirus cases every day. The current daily death toll typically falls between 1,500 and 2,000.

As the coronavirus disease continues to spread, live event organizers have been canceling or postponing large gatherings, including concerts and festivals.

Entertainers, crew and other workers in the industry have already lost billions of dollars as a result of COVID-19-related cancelations, representing only a small fraction of the financial devastation that will be experienced by workers in the sector as cancelations continue to roll in.