US reports record number of Covid deaths in January

The United States started 2021 with the deadliest month in the coronavirus pandemic yet.

January’s death toll has already exceeded the record death toll set in December, when more than 77,400 people in the United States have died from Covid-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The pandemic has killed more than 79,200 so far this month, the data shows.

Over the past seven days, the country has reported on average more than 3,300 Covid-19 deaths each day, up 12% from a week ago, according to data from Hopkins.

It is hoped that the death toll will slow down in the coming weeks. The number of daily new cases reported in the United States, which epidemiologists use as a leading indicator to know whether the epidemic is increasing or decreasing, has declined steadily in recent days as the surge sparked by interstate travel and celebrations holiday seems to be easing.

The United States reported about 146,600 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the seven-day average of new cases to just over 166,300 and down about 17% from a week ago, according to the Hopkins data.

The number of people currently hospitalized for Covid-19 across the United States is also dropping, although it remains extremely high. More than 108,900 people were hospitalized with the disease on Tuesday, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project, set up by reporters from The Atlantic. That’s off the peak of more than 130,000 hospitalized patients reported earlier this month.

But the potential spread in the United States of new, more contagious strains of the virus, coupled with a slower-than-expected deployment of vaccines, threatens to reverse progress in the fight against the epidemic.

The B.1.1.7 strain of the virus, which was first discovered in the UK and has become the dominant strain there, has been found in a number of states in the US Epidemiologists say that the strain appears to spread more easily and UK officials have said it could be deadlier as well.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 293 cases associated with this strain of the virus had been found in the United States, mainly in Florida and California.

And earlier this week, the Minnesota Department of Health said it had confirmed the first known U.S. case of another strain of the virus that had been discovered in Brazil. Another so-called worrying variant, called 501Y.V2 or B.1.351, according to the epidemiologist, was first discovered in South Africa and worries scientists because vaccines and drugs appear to be less effective against this strain. . No cases associated with this strain have yet been discovered in the United States.

In an effort to curb the spread of the virus and in particular the importation of new strains, President Joe Biden earlier this week banned most non-US citizens traveling from South Africa from entering the United States and has extended travel restrictions for Europe, UK and Brazil.

The president painted a grim picture of the epidemic, saying on Monday that the United States “is going to see somewhere between 600,000 and 660,000 deaths altogether before we start to turn the corner in any major way.”

While urging people to wear masks and follow public health measures such as social distancing, Biden is working to speed up the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, attributing the initially slow pace to the Trump administration. On Monday, he said the United States could surpass 1.5 million vaccines per day, up from its previously targeted rate of 1 million per day, which was already nearly hit by the last administration.

“Time is running out,” he said earlier this week. “We are trying to get at least 100 million vaccines in 100 days and to go in the direction where we are well beyond in the next 100 days, to get to the point where we reach collective immunity. in a country. of more than 300 million people. “

On Tuesday, he said the government was working to purchase an additional 200 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, bringing the US supply from 400 million doses to 600 million, although this will not soon speed up the pace of vaccinations. . He also said the administration will increase the number of doses sent to states by about 20% each week. Some states said they had the capacity to immunize more people, but were limited by the supply.