The United States has reached a grim milestone: 1 in 1,000 Americans has died from COVID-19 since the country’s first reported infection in late January.
The statistic is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Johns Hopkins University.
On Saturday, the national death toll from COVID-19 reached 331,909, while the U.S. population is estimated to be around 330,750,000.
The U.S. has also reported more than 19 million cases of the virus as today, the most in the world.
The first reported case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was in January 2020, and the first death was the following month.
With an average rate of more than 1,000 deaths per day, the U.S. toll reached 100,000 deaths in May and 200,000 in September, per Johns Hopkins data.
Though death rates and infections nationwide slowed during the summer, they have experienced an acceleration since November.
It took just 11 weeks for the country to reach 300,000 deaths from the virus, which was announced Dec. 14.
Hospitals and governments are bracing for yet another surge in the new year, following the holidays.
Health officials urge continued vigilance with coronavirus protocols, including quarantining, social distancing and wearing masks.
With the arrival of Christmas and New Year’s, along with accounting for the long incubation time of the virus, hospitals and state governments are bracing for the surge to continue into January and February, one year after the start of the pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci issued a warning to the American people that he believes the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is yet to come as the US is likely to suffer the effects of a holiday season travel boom.
Fauci, a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, was asked today whether he agrees with President-elect Joe Biden that the darkest days of the pandemic lie ahead.
Citing 200,000 new cases of COVID-19 being reported each day, and with 2,000 Americans dying of the virus daily, Fauci insisted: ‘We are at a really critical point.’
‘We very well might see a post-seasonal [surge] in the sense of Christmas/New Year’s,’ he said. ‘I’ve described it as a surge upon a surge because if you look at the slope, the incline of cases as we have experienced as we have gone into the late fall and soon to be early winter, it is really quite troubling.’
He continued: ‘If you put more pressure on the system by what might be a post-seasonal surge because of the traveling and the likely congregating of people for the good warm purposes of being together for the holidays, it’s very tough for people to not do that. And, yet, even though we advise not to, it’s going to happen.
‘So I share the concern of President-Elect Biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.’
Fauci’s remarks came shortly after he was asked whether he suffered any side effects when he received his first shot of the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday.
‘The only thing I had was about maybe six to ten hours following the vaccine, I felt a little bit of an ache in my arm. That lasted maybe 24 hours, a little bit more,’ Fauci said.
‘Then it went away and completely other than that, I felt no other deleterious type of effects. It was better than an influenza vaccine.’
Fauci, President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President Mike Pence and a number of other high profile government figures have already received either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.
Donald Trump, however, has so far not.
Fauci insisted that he would recommend Trump get vaccinated as soon as possible, though said the decision ultimately lies with the president and his physician.
‘My recommendation – I’ve said this before – I would get him vaccinated, Fauci said. ‘He is still the president of the United States.
‘I recommended that Vice President Pence get vaccinated and he did. I was there with him when he will got vaccinated.
‘So my recommendation for the president remains the same but the final decision, obviously, is up to him,’ Fauci said.