TOPLINE
The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged countless countries worldwide, but none have been hit harder than the U.S., and America sped past a somber signpost on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed Covid-related deaths within the United States surpassed 150,000.
KEY FACTS
America leads the world, by far, in both total numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
Despite representing less than 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. accounts for more than 22.5% of the world’s coronavirus deaths.
Over just the past four months, more Americans have died from the coronavirus than the number of U.S. service members killed in World War I (and more than Vietnam and Korean wars combined).
Yet, according to multiple studies published recently (including a thorough study by researchers at Yale University earlier this month), the number of confirmed deaths in the U.S. due to Covid-19 is significantly lower than the actual number of fatalities.
Despite a recent slowdown, New York has recorded far more deaths than any other state (a total of 32,333 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database).
Florida, the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, again broke its daily record for deaths on Wednesday, reporting 216 fatalities in just the past 24 hours.
Key Background:
President Trump has received harsh criticism from for his handling of the pandemic since the virus first arrived in the U.S. His downplaying of the potential severity of the threat from Covid-19 resulted in the country not taking the deadly disease seriously early, critics claim. Earlier this month, the president falsely claimed “99%” of coronavirus cases are “totally harmless.” Tuesday, he declared “large portions” of the country are “corona free.” However, according to a recently issued federal report, 21 U.S states are in the “red zone” for coronavirus outbreaks, which means they are reporting more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people. The U.S. exceeded 4 million Covid-19 cases last week, and the exponentially increasing rate of infections has been alarming. It took 99 days for 1 million Americans to become infected. Forty-three days after that, the U.S. hit 2 million cases. America surpassed 3 million less than a month later. Then, it took just 15 more days for the U.S. to exceed 4 million.
Big Number:
1,000: It’s been 150 days since March 1, which means that approximately an average of 1,000 Americans have died every day since the first known Covid-related fatality back in late February.
Crucial Quotes:
“You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero,” said President Trump on February 26th.
“Five months after President Trump said the coronavirus would just ‘disappear,’ our nation marks 150,000 lives lost to COVID-19,” said Congressman Bill Foster, a Democrat representing Illinois. “Simply put, the President and his administration failed miserably to manage the coronavirus crisis and we are paying the price for their incompetence with the lives of our fellow citizens.”
“Our analyses suggest that the official tally of deaths due to Covid-19 represent a substantial undercount of the true burden,” said Dan Weinberger, an epidemiologist at Yale School of Public Health.
Tangent:
The Covid-19 vaccine candidate made by the biotech company Moderna, Inc. and developed in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health began Phase 3 clinical trials earlier this week. It’s the first such final-phase testing trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Monday morning that late-stage results could be ready by October, but cautioned that was a “really optimistic” scenario.
Further Reading:
Coronavirus Vaccine Begins Final Phase Of Testing In The U.S. (Forbes)
Actual Number Of Coronavirus Deaths Is Likely Far Higher Than Official Tally, Studies Suggest (Forbes)
