U.S. Expected to Hit 500,000 COVID-19 Deaths by February, CDC Warns

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Viral epidemic in California

As the United States draws closer 400,000 coronavirus deaths, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control said that in mid-February officials expect the death toll to be staggering.

“As of mid-February, we predict half a million deaths in this country,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky.

The grim news comes as Los Angeles battles a more contagious variant virus. California leads world in coronavirus cases, with more 3 million inhabitants infected.

UCLA epidemiologist Dr Anne Rimoin told CBS News she “certainly” suspected that there are more variants active in the population. She compared finding the variants to “shining a flashlight in the dark,” adding, “You’re going to see something if you start looking, and we just haven’t looked.”

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A nurse wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) communicates through a glass door while caring for a patient in a COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital ( MLK) in Southern California. / Credit: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images

But nationally, the chaotic vaccine deployment continues, leading to more than a few frayed nerves in Florida.

“You can’t have a date, you can’t buy a date. So what are we going to do? said Elizabeth Johnson, a Palm Beach resident.

The Florida Department of Health said more than 40,000 people are already late for their second dose as the country braces for the worst.

The darkest weeks have already hit Southern California. Data shows the dramatic increase in deaths from COVID-19 in LA County, where one person now dies every six minutes.

The coroner has a body arrears, so much so that LA County has just relaxed air quality rules to allow more cremations.

And yet, as bad as it sounds, there is at least one uplifting update.

CBS News met Dennis Zayas and his wife Jessica just before Christmas, after a diagnosis of COVID-19 led to a double lung transplant. He told CBS News his recovery was a daily struggle and he almost had to learn to walk again.

Now he doesn’t just walk, he trains – and over the weekend, he got his first dose of Modern vaccine.

CBS News confirmed on Monday that President Trump will lift travel restrictions in Europe and Brazil, where the virus is on the rise, before stepping down. The restrictions would be lifted on January 26 – but President-elect Biden’s team said later on Monday he would block the changes.