During an event and procession organized by Naming the Lost Memorials, memorials hang at the entrance gate of Greenwood Cemetery to commemorate and celebrate the lives of those killed in New York City’s COVID-19 pandemic. Spencer Platt / Getty Images Hide caption
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Spencer Platt / Getty Images
During an event and procession organized by Naming the Lost Memorials, memorials hang at the entrance gate of Greenwood Cemetery to commemorate and celebrate the lives of those killed in New York City’s COVID-19 pandemic.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
More than 15 months since the first confirmed death from COVID-19 in the United States, Johns Hopkins University reported Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 600,000 lives across the country – a trend that has grown from thousands to just hundreds per day has slowed down last few weeks largely thanks to the ready availability of vaccines.
Over the winter, the nation added about 100,000 deaths each month. But as more and more people were vaccinated – especially older Americans – the death rate dropped sharply. There are now an average of about 375 deaths per day – up from more than 3,000 per day in January.
The United States continues to report the highest number of deaths worldwide, followed by Brazil, India and Mexico. The total death toll worldwide is 3.8 million.
The death toll was 600,012 on Tuesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins.
Even so, the cumulative number of deaths in the United States clearly shows the recent positive effects of vaccines: barely a month passed between 400,000 and a year half a million Deaths, but it took nearly four times as long to hit the 600,000 mark. At the same time, the trend in the number of new infections, which strongly reflected deaths, peaked in January at more than 300,000 in a single day. Now, according to Johns Hopkins, the US is fluctuating on average by less than 15,000 confirmed infections.
The positive trends have led many states to lift their coronavirus restrictions – with many masking requirements for vaccinated individuals being dropped altogether and other social distancing requirements abolished.
At the same time, however, many Americans show reluctance to vaccinate, with a little more than half of US adults fully immunized. Especially in parts of the Midwest and South, the vaccination rates per 100,000 inhabitants remain compared to the northeast and parts of the west coast, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The gap is particularly pronounced between rural and urban areas of the country.
Tuesday’s numbers follow this week’s study showing a new vaccine, one from Novavax, is 100% effective against the original strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and 93% effective against other variants.
The next step is for the company to seek regulatory approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, which has issued emergency approvals for three additional vaccines – those made by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.
