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The United States took another grim milestone on Friday, as confirmed coronavirus the death toll has exceeded 700,000, just over a year and a half after the start of the pandemic, and despite the wide availability of vaccines.
Milestone, Johns Hopkins University data comes less than two weeks after national death toll exceeded the estimated number of deaths in the United States during the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Despite national COVID-19 measures showing encouraging signs of decline, about 1,500 Americans die from the virus each day, according to federal data.
“Reaching 700,000 deaths is a tragic and completely preventable step. We had the knowledge and the tools to prevent that from happening, and unfortunately politics, lack of urgency and mistrust of science brought us here.” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and ABC News contributor.
To put it in perspective, the staggering number of deaths is greater than the number of Americans estimated to have died of cancer last year, one of the leading causes of death in the country. It is higher than the total number of American soldiers killed in action throughout the recent history of the country, and it is roughly the same as the population of Boston, Massachusetts.
Some experts believe that the current COVID-19[female[feminine The number of deaths could already be vastly underestimated, due to inconsistent reporting by states and localities, and the exclusion of excess deaths, a measure of the number of lives lost beyond what would be expected if the pandemic had not happened.
The country’s four largest states – California, Texas, New York and Florida – have all recorded more than 50,000 deaths, nearly a third of the global total.
Once “unimaginable”
COVID death toll now seven times that of former President Donald Trump once predicted in the early days of the pandemic.
“The minimum number was 100,000 lives, and I think we’ll be significantly below that number.… So we’ll see what that ends up being, but it looks like we’re headed for a number that is significantly less than 100,000” , Trump said in April 2020.
However, many health experts, including Jeffrey Shaman, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, were already worried about the onset of the pandemic from the potentially devastating impact of the virus.
“My team and I were able to see very early on that this pathogen had the potential to kill so many people in the United States… I hadn’t foreseen how difficult the answer would be, how the leaders could not or would be. not interested in unifying the country to come together and overcome political differences in order to fight the virus, “Shaman said.” I am saddened that this has not happened. I believe that if that had happened, fewer people would have died and the economic consequences of the pandemic would also have been mitigated. “
Each death is a unique tragedy and an irreparable loss. An analysis, following the extended scope of COVID-19 loss of kinship with a bereavement multiplier, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, estimates that 6.3 million family members could mourn the loss of a loved one to the virus.
Patricia Dowd, a 57-year-old San Jose resident, was the first known American to die of COVID-19 in February 2020. At first, Dowd’s cause of death was not known to be due to the virus. It wasn’t until months later, in April, that an autopsy would reveal that she had died of coronavirus, three weeks before the CDC previously identified the first U.S. death linked to the coronavirus.
By the end of May 2020, 100,000 Americans had been confirmed dead. In the coming months, the United States would record 100,000 more coronavirus deaths, and by the time a coronavirus vaccine was cleared for emergency use, a total of 300,000 Americans had died from the virus.
When President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the death toll in the United States had risen to 400,000 lives lost due to COVID-19, and a month later, in February 2021, half a million ‘Americans were dead. And by June, the nation had lost 600,000 Americans.
“A year and a half ago, the idea of reaching 700,000 coronavirus deaths was totally unimaginable. While these horrific milestones once reflected failures in the public health response, they now reflect our inability to immunize millions of vulnerable Americans, “Brownstein said.
Declining demand for vaccines
The milestone is juxtaposed with a drop in demand for Americans getting vaccinated against the virus, with the current rate of new vaccinations now approaching its lowest point since the vaccines were first introduced last December.
About 117.4 million Americans remain unvaccinated, of which nearly 70 million are over 12 years of age and therefore eligible to be vaccinated.
On average, the number of Americans receiving a newly authorized third dose of Pfizer is now greater than the number of Americans starting immunizations each day.
“As the winter months approach, we can significantly delay the next grim step if more people, especially those at high risk for serious illness, choose to be vaccinated,” said Ajay Sethi, epidemiologist and associate professor of Population Health Sciences at the University. of Wisconsin-Madison.
Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data showing that, overall, vaccines still significantly reduce the risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 during the current wave delta variant, as they did during the pre-delta era.
People who have not been fully vaccinated are eight times more likely to test positive, 41 times more likely to be hospitalized and 57 times more likely to die, compared to those vaccinated, according to CDC director Rochelle Walensky.
“We are laser focused on getting more shots, especially to vaccinate the unvaccinated. This is our way out of this pandemic. So if you are not vaccinated, please go get yourself. vaccinate. It’s free, that’s for sure, it’s easy. It’ll help make all of us safer. Said at a press conference on Friday, “Walensky said at a conference press release Friday.
Disproportionate impact
The country’s racial and ethnic minorities have borne a disproportionate share of hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19. According to federal data, adjusted for age and population, the likelihood of death from COVID-19 for blacks, Latinos and Native Americans is two to three times that of whites.
Although the measurements seem to show that the latest wave of the pandemic could subside, experts urge us to be cautious and on our toes.
“We are not clear,” Shaman stressed. “New variants may arise that cause more breakthrough and repeat infections, and the virus appears to be naturally more transmissible during the winter. The virus is probably moving from its pandemic phase to endemicity. We still don’t know. not what endemic transmission will look like, “he said, adding that it is still unclear what the frequency and severity of repeated and breakthrough infections will look like.
Experts agree that it will be essential for more Americans to get vaccinated in order to avoid another tragic stage.
“The vast majority of deaths in the future will continue to be those who choose to delay vaccination. While the current downward trajectory of cases offers optimistic prospects, this path will unfortunately continue to include tens of thousands of preventable deaths. through vaccination, ”Brownstein said.
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