Wearing masks could save at least 14,000 people from Covid-19 deaths by August, model predicts An influential Covid-19 model has predicted the total number of US deaths from the virus by August 1, a number that researchers say will be impacted by how many Americans continue to wear masks as vaccinations continue. A model from the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s (IHME) predicts about 618,523 people will have died from coronavirus in the US by August 1. If 95% of the US population wore masks, the projection drops to 604,413 deaths. In the worst-case scenario, in which fully vaccinated people return to pre-pandemic levels of mobility, the prediction grows to 697,573, the IHME forecasted.