Grim mark: U.S. surpasses 100,000
Virus death toll hit in less than four months
HARTFORD, Conn. — The U.S. surpassed a milestone Wednesday in the coronavirus pandemic: 100,000 deaths.
That number is the best estimate and most assuredly an undercount. But it represents the reality that more Americans have died from the virus than from the Vietnam and Korea wars combined.
“It’s a striking reminder of how dangerous this virus can be,” said Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy with the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington.
Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 5.6 million people and killed over 350,000, with the U.S. having the most confirmed cases and deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Europe has recorded about 170,000 deaths, while the U.S. reached more than 100,000 in less than four months.
The true death toll from the virus, which emerged in China late last year and was first reported in the U.S. in January, is thought to be significantly higher, with experts saying many victims died of COVID-19 without ever being tested for it.
The virus exacted a vicious toll on New York City and its surrounding suburbs, killing more than 21,000. At the peak, hundreds of people were dying per day in the city, and hospitals, ambulances and first responders were inundated with patients.
The densely packed New York metropolitan area, consisting of about 20 million people across a region that encompasses the city’s northern suburbs, Long Island and northern New Jersey, has been the hardest-hit corner of the country, accounting for at least one-third of the nation’s deaths.
There is no vaccine or treatment for COVID-19, but emergency treatments are being used after showing some promise in preliminary testing.
Among the 100,000 deaths was 74-year-old Michael Ganci, a resident of Newington, Connecticut, who died March 21. He was a public school teacher, a grandfather and father of four, and a fourth-degree belt Sensei in Kyokushin karate.
Ganci, who had a compromised immune system, died at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford three days after showing symptoms. His family was not allowed to be with him and tried to text and talk with him on his cellphone during his final days. His wife of 48 years also tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to grieve alone.
For their daughter, 45-year-old Joanna Ganci of Beverly, Massachusetts, the milestone and other statistics are important to understand the scope of the virus.
“But at the same time, I think the danger of counting, the danger of statistics, is that it just minimizes the human element,” she said. “And I think, again, we see that our country is in the throes of this kind of moment of just that the numbers don’t seem to mean anything anyway to many. It’s like, what number is going to make an impact for people who haven’t been touched by it?”