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COVID-19 statistics: surprising numbers about coronavirus in the USA
The first COVID case in the United States was found in January 2020. A year later, the numbers surrounding the pandemic are alarming.
USA TODAY
COVID-19 killed more than 400,000 Americans in less than a year and infections continued to increase across the country, despite the introduction of a pair of vaccines in late 2020. USA TODAY is following the news. Keep updating this page to get the latest updates on coronavirus, including who is receiving Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, as well as other important news from across the USA TODAY Network. Subscribe to our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates right in your inbox, join our Facebook group or go through our detailed answers to readers’ questions to learn more about the virus.
In the headlines:
► President Joe Biden will sign an order on Thursday requiring people to wear masks at airports and on many trains, planes and intercity buses, according to White House officials. He signed a mandate on Wednesday demanding the use of face masks in buildings and on land controlled by the federal government.
►The British National Health Service is preparing at least two buses from London to serve as makeshift ambulances so that four COVID patients can be transported at once, reports The Guardian. The buses, which will be operated by car-intensive doctors and nurses, are designed to ease the pressure the pandemic has placed on London’s ambulance services.
► President Joe Biden plans to sign several orders and other directives on Thursday with the aim of boosting the government’s national strategy to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.
►Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor on the pandemic, told the World Health Organization executive board that Biden will issue a directive on Thursday showing the United States’ intention to join the COVAX Facility, a project to distribute COVID-19 vaccines for people in need around the world. He also said that the United States will stop reducing the number of American employees at WHO and will pay its financial obligations to it.
► California says it is safe to resume the use of a batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after some people fell ill and suspension of injections was recommended. The decision releases more than 300,000 doses to counties, cities and hospitals.
► The drive to inoculate Americans against coronavirus is hitting an obstacle: several states are reporting they are running out of vaccines and tens of thousands of people who have managed to schedule a first dose are seeing them canceled. The reason for the apparent mismatch between supply and demand in the United States was unclear, but last week the Department of Health and Human Services suggested that states had unrealistic expectations about the amount of vaccine on the way.
► Florida’s surgeon general urged the federal government on Wednesday to increase the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in states like his, where large concentrations of elderly people face the greatest risk of disease and death from COVID-19.
📈 Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 24.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 406,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: Over 96.7 million cases and 2 million deaths.
📘 What we’re reading: Scientists are convinced that COVID-19 came from a tiny bat hidden inside a remote Chinese cave, but other questions remain about the virus’s origin. See why answers are important.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will extend an order preventing landlords from evicting tenants until March 31, protecting up to 40 million Americans from displacement, announced new CDC director Rochelle P. Walensky on Wednesday.
“We must act to eliminate the cases and keep people in their homes and out of congregated environments – such as shelters – where COVID-19 can become even stronger,” said Walensky in a statement.
A study by global investment firm Stout estimates that up to 14 million families may already be close to eviction, with a rent deficit of more than $ 24 billion.
The order, issued by former President Donald Trump in September, was set to expire on January 31, but the CDC was instructed to extend it during a barrage of executive orders signed on Wednesday by President Joe Biden.
President Joe Biden signed several orders on Wednesday regarding support for Americans affected by the pandemic.
Sitting in the Oval Office, Biden signed an order demanding masks and social distance from federal properties, followed by an order to provide support to needy communities. On another day, a request will create a COVID-19 response coordinator who will report directly to the president.
Biden’s team acknowledged that Congressional action will be needed to fulfill much of Biden’s initial agenda. Topping that list is the approval of a $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, which Biden launched last week. Read more here.
– Joey Garrison and Courtney Subramanian, USA TODAY
Preliminary figures show that 2020 is on its way to becoming the deadliest year in U.S. history, with more than 3.2 million deaths in total – about 400,000 more than 2019 – a sharp increase that public health experts attributed to COVID-19 and is in line with the deaths reported by the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,835,533 deaths in the United States in 2019. Before the pandemic, the models projected a slightly higher number, about 2.9 million deaths, for 2020, said Dr. Jeremy Faust , emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
It is no coincidence, he said, that the 400,000 excess deaths resemble the number of coronavirus deaths in the U.S., which reached 401,796 on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
“This is not a seasonal change or just a random bad year,” said Faust. “This is what every person who can correctly attest to these numbers can clearly see is a historic increase in excess mortality. If we add that to the number of deaths from coronavirus, it’s game, set, match. “
– Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY
Contributing: The Associated Press