The United States reached a morbid milestone within the COVID-19 pandemic this week, as the nation surpassed one million COVID-19-related deaths, according to data from NBC News.
It’s been 27 months since the first recorded case of COVID-19 reached the United States, but the total death toll now equals the population of San Jose, CA – the nation’s 10th largest city.
Deaths from COVID have slowed recently, but the nation is still losing over 350 people every day to the virus. Estimates for the death toll ranged wildly in the early days of the pandemic, but a number like one million is certainly beyond the estimates of most people.
The U.S. death toll is the highest of any nation in the world, with Brazil a distant second at approximately 660,000 deaths.
Dr. Christopher Murray, who heads the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, told NBC News that although this milestone has been looming, “the fact that so many have died is still appalling.”
On a per capita basis, or in terms of deaths as a fraction of the total population, the U.S. ranks 18th worldwide, with Peru the hardest-hit nation.
Check back with American Nurse Journal frequently for more information and continuing news on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just a few weeks ago, the CDC reported that about 60 percent of Americans have already had COVID-19, a dramatic rate of increase in infection since the beginning of 2022.
The number stood around 34 percent in December 2021, but rose to approximately 58 percent during February of this year.
Researchers looked at the presence of coronavirus antibodies to estimate the rate of infection. The existence of these antibodies varied by age, from as high as 75% in children and teenagers 17 and younger, to 33% in those 65 and older, for example.
The study showed that the antibodies were more common in age groups with the lowest vaccination numbers.
SOURCE: NBC News, WebMD
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