US Hits Grim Milestone, 800,000 COVID-19 Deaths

By Teddy Grant Published: December 15, 2021

US Hits Grim Milestone, 800,000 COVID-19 Deaths

As of the first weekend in October 2020, the US has topped 700,000 COVID-19 deaths. In this Nov. 19, 2020, file photo, EMT Giselle Dorgalli, second from right, looks at a monitor while performing chest compression on a patient who tested positive for coronavirus in the emergency room at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

In Summary

The U.S. is nearing 1 million deaths stemming from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The unsettling news comes as the highly transmittable omicron spreads.

Nearly two years after it was discovered in Wuhan, China, and one year after the first vaccine doses were administered, COVID-19 has killed over 800,000 people in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced.

The heartbreaking news comes as the omicron variant of the virus is spreading at a faster rate than previous variants, the World Health Organization said. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the variant has been detected in 77 countries, according to CNN.

“It’s tragic on so many levels,” immunologist and epidemiologist Dr. Helen Chu told NPR.

Black Americans have experienced the highest COVID-19 death rates. Black people account for 15% of all COVID-19 deaths, the AP reported in June.

According to an analysis by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation, around 163,000 of those deaths could have been prevented since the COVID-19 vaccine became widely accessible earlier this year.

The Commonwealth Fund found that 1.1 million COVID-19 deaths were avoided this past year because of the U.S.’ vaccine rollout.

The U.S. also has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, with around 50 million people having tested positive since the start of the pandemic.

Since Dec. 3, the country is averaging over 1,000 COVID-19 deaths a day, a notable increase from the 300 deaths a day average from June and July.

Experts expect a surge in cases because of the omicron variant, which is reportedly more transmissible than previous variants.