US virus deaths top 4,300, a new high
With the country’s attention focused largely on the fallout from the deadly uprising at the Capitol and subsequent move to impeach President Donald Trump, COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. hit another one-day high, topping 4,300.
The nation’s overall death toll from COVID-19 has eclipsed 380,000, according to Johns Hopkins University, and is closing in fast on the number of Americans killed in World War II, or about 407,000. Confirmed infections have topped 22.8 million.
With the country simultaneously facing a political crisis and on edge over threats of more violence from far-right extremists, the U.S. recorded 4,327 deaths Tuesday by Johns Hopkins’ count. Arizona and California have been among the hardest-hit states.
The daily figure is subject to revision, but deaths have been rising sharply over the past 21⁄2 months, and the country is now in the most lethal phase of the outbreak, even as vaccines are being rolled out. New cases are running at nearly a quarter-million per day on average.
More than 9.3 million Americans have received their first shot of the vaccine, or less than 3% of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is well short of the hundreds of millions who experts say will need to be inoculated to vanquish the outbreak.
The effort is ramping up around the country. Large-scale, drive-thru vaccination sites have opened at stadiums and other places, enabling people to get their shots through their car windows.
Also, an increasing number of states have begun offering vaccinations to the next group in line – senior citizens – with the minimum age varying from place to place at 65, 70 or 75. Up to now, health care workers and nursing home residents have been given priority in most places.
Meanwhile, California has lifted a stay-at-home order for 13 northern counties with improving hospital conditions, but most of the state’s population remains under tight restrictions in the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that she hopes to let restaurants reopen for indoor dining Feb. 1. Non-contact sports can resume this weekend.
In Great Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged Wednesday that his nation’s vaccine program will operate around the clock seven days a week “as soon as we can.”
“At the moment, the limit is on supply” of the vaccines rather than on the ability of the country’s health service to deliver jabs quickly, Johnson said. The push to inoculate millions quickly comes as a more contagious variant of the coronavirus is sweeping across Britain and driving hospitals to their breaking points.
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the U.S. will require proof of a negative coronavirus test before allowing visitors to fly into the country from other nations.
The CDC said the new anti-pandemic measure that will take effect Jan. 26 requires travelers to receive a test within three days before leaving for the U.S. and provide written documentation of a negative result.