US COVID deaths breach 900,000
An average of 2,400 currently die daily and hospitalizations remain high even as Omicron-related cases fall
WASHINGTON—The US death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic surpassed 900,000 on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
The toll had hit 800,000 dead in mid-December, just a month and a half ago.
New cases linked to the Omicron variant are falling, but daily deaths are still rising, with an average of 2,400 now, according to government figures.
“Hospitalizations remain high, stretching our healthcare capacity and workforce to its limits in some areas of the country,” said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID deaths usually occur a few weeks after patients get the virus, which explains why the spike in deaths occurs later than the spike in new cases.
As of Friday, according to Reuters’ running tally of state-reported data, the total number of American lives lost to COVID-19 since the first US cases were detected in early 2020 has reached at least 904,228, more than the entire population of South Dakota.
Tragic mile
“Today, our nation marks another tragic milestone—900,000 American lives have been lost to COVID-19,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “We pray for the loved ones they have left behind, and together we keep every family enduring this pain in our hearts.”
On the eve of his inauguration in January 2021, Biden led a national memorial observance to honor the 400,000 Americans who had then perished from COVID-19, 11 months after the virus claimed its first US life.
The latest tally stands as the highest number of COVID-19 deaths reported by any nation, followed by Russia, Brazil and India with more than 1.8 million deaths combined. In terms of coronavirus fatalities per capita, the United States ranks 20th, well below the top two—Peru and Russia.
Americans continue to die from COVID in large numbers because only 64 percent of the population is fully immunized, despite highly effective vaccines being widely available.
In his statement Biden again urged Americans to get vaccinated.
“Vaccines and boosters have proven incredibly effective, and offer the highest level of protection,” he said.
Most in the world
The United States has the most COVID deaths in absolute terms, ahead of Brazil and India, according to government figures.
The COVID pandemic has killed at least 5.7 million people worldwide since it began in December 2019, according to an AFP tally published on Friday.
But the World Health Organization says the actual toll could be two to three times higher.
Nationally, confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States are now averaging 354,000 a day, half of what was reported less than two weeks ago and down from the peak of nearly 806,000 infections a day on Jan. 15. Many infections, however, go uncounted because they are detected by home-testing kits and not reported to public health authorities, officials say.
Over the past seven days, the states reporting the most new cases per capita were Alaska, Kentucky, Washington state, South Carolina and North Dakota.
Current US COVID hospitalizations on Thursday stood at 117,000 compared with a peak of nearly 153,000 on Jan. 20.