Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

200,000 Americans dead, but Trump says Covid affects 'virtually nobody'

CNN: More Americans have now died of Covid than of five wars combined.

Or, the US Covid deaths are the equivalent of US deaths on 9/11 occurring every day for 66 days.

Or, the US has suffered an average of 858 deaths every day since February 6, the date of the first known US coronavirus death.

Or, Covid is now the second-leading cause of death in the US this year, behind only heart disease. Read more here.

Many, many more deaths are on the way. Prediction models, which fluctuate, currently suggest the US could see 180,000 more deaths by the end of 2020 -- 380,000 deaths total. If fatalities approach that level, they'll far eclipse even Civil War battle deaths.

Infectious disease expert and government official Anthony Fauci said at the Citizen by CNN conference on Tuesday that he's concerned about the country not having control of the virus' spread ahead of a winter season that could exacerbate it.

"The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering, and in some respects, stunning," he told CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta. Fauci argued that the country is in a pivotal moment to slow the spread right now with simple measures -- frequent hand washing and wearing masks, the same as the recommendation has been for months -- before winter comes, when people spend more time inside and transmission could increase.

"We do have within our capability -- even before we get a vaccine, which we will get reasonably soon -- we have the capability by doing things that we have been speaking about for so long, Sanjay, that could prevent the transmission, and by preventing transmission, ultimately preventing the morbidity and mortality that we see," Fauci said.

He added that he'd like to see the US go into the fall and winter months "at such a low level that when you have the inevitable cases, you can handle them."

Yet President Donald Trump says Covid affects virtually nobody. Rather than publicly mourning, Trump was arguing this week that Covid affects "elderly people with heart problems" and very few other people. "It affects virtually nobody. It's an amazing thing," he said in Ohio.

Somebody should show him this story about a 28-year-old Houston OB-GYN who caught Covid in July and died just recently.

Or he could read this story about a study suggesting Black and Latino people are twice as likely to test positive.

Oh, and watch video from Trump's event where an Ohio elected official,

Secretary of State John Husted, encouraged Trump supporters to wear MAGA masks. They booed him.

Football loves masks, though. The NFL, of all organizations, is all in on face coverings. It's fining coaches and teams more than $1 million for failing to wear masks Sunday.

The CDC posted, and then abruptly removed, guidance on its website about the airborne transmission of the virus in gyms and restaurants. An official told CNN the guidance was not ready for publication.

And here's an interesting story: why efforts by US colleges and universities to open up have gone so poorly.