A patient is lying on a bed in the Covid-19 ICU of a hospital in Houston, Texas.
Photographer: Go Nakamura / Bloomberg
Photographer: Go Nakamura / Bloomberg
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now predict that the U.S. will see 400,000 coronavirus deaths by January 20, when President Donald Trump will step down.
The country surpassed 100,000 deaths in May and 200,000 four months later. It went from 300,000 in three months, and 400,000 seems to take just a month, the CDC determined using a collection of mathematical models. The USA has one of the The highest mortality rates in the nations most affected by the virus, behind only Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, on a population scale.
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The predicted pace would mean an additional 65,000 deaths in the coming weeks. The numbers are a reminder of the growing speed with which the virus claims lives in the United States, underscoring the urgency of vaccine distribution efforts.
President-elect Joe Biden was expected on Tuesday to we blame the Trump administration for the slow release of vaccines, which remains 2 million doses administered, a fraction of the 20 million promised by the end of the year.
Deaths Climb
Covid-19 deaths in the United States are expected to reach 400,000 in mid-January
Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Weekly deaths are expected to increase through January 16, although national case numbers have dropped for two weeks amid irregular holiday reports. Only the state of Washington reported an average of seven days of cases substantially higher than a week ago, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project.
Nationally, the US posted 162,190 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, data from the Covid Tracking Project show. There were at least 335,051 deaths attributed to the virus, according to Data from Johns Hopkins University.
According to data from the Covid Tracking Project:
- Connecticut, Kansas and Arizona had the highest number of new cases per million people.
- Connecticut also reported a one-day case record on Monday.