The death toll from Covid-19 hit 900,000 in the United States

United States

The coronavirus pandemic reached a grim new milestone in the United States on Friday with the nation’s cumulative death toll from COVID-19 surpassing 900,000, even as the daily number of lives lost has begun to level off, according to data collected by Reuters.

The latest tally marks an increase of more than 100,000 U.S. COVID-19 fatalities since Dec. 12, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalizations driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.

Preliminary evidence has shown that Omicron, while far more infectious, generally causes less severe illness than earlier iterations of the virus, such as Delta. But the sheer volume of Omicron cases fueled a surge in hospitalizations that has strained many U.S. healthcare systems to their limits in recent weeks.

Experts have said the bulk of Omicron patients requiring hospitalization were unvaccinated individuals and people with other underlying chronic health conditions.

Data also suggests that Omicron may have hit the United States harder than other countries with younger overall populations, such as in Africa.

As of Friday, according to Reuters’ running tally of state-reported data, the total number of American lives lost to COVID-19 since the first U.S. cases were detected in early 2020 has reached at least 904,067, more than the entire population of South Dakota.

That tally is the highest number of COVID-19 deaths reported by any nation, followed by Russia, Brazil and India with more than 1.8 million deaths combined. In terms of coronavirus fatalities per capita, the United States ranks 20th, well below the top two - Peru and Russia.

Nevertheless, the U.S. COVID-19 death rate appears to be slowing as the Omicron surge wanes, Reuters’ figures show. The seven-day average fell for two days in a row to 2,592, compared with a peak average of 2,674 in the current wave of infections. By comparison, the peak during the Delta wave in January 2021 was an average of 3,300 deaths a day.

Some public health officials have said that as the Omicron outbreak recedes and hospitalizations decline, the pandemic may enter a new phase in the United States and elsewhere.

In the state of Iowa, for example, the governor announced on Friday that a public health disaster proclamation, and special safety measures that go with it, would expire on Feb. 15.

Source: Reuters