"Sometimes the models are right on line, sometimes they’re a bit off," said Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
According to data collated by the Johns Hopkins University, there have been over 581,700 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the US. Fauci, however, said that there is "no doubt" that the US has been "undercounting" pandemic death figures and asserted that the true number is much higher.
Fauci pointed to a May 6 analysis from the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), which suggests that the US COVID-19 death toll could be around 900,000.
Since its global outbreak in March 2020, the coronavirus has impacted the United States more than any other country, with over 32.7 million Americans becoming infected.
Last month, Fauci warned that the US was on the brink of another COVID-19 surge and said that it would be wrong for Americans to ease up on masking and social distancing just because the country had exceeded its vaccination targets.
