The United States ended 2020 with the most lethal and infectious month since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, while it surpassed 20 million confirmed cases of Covid-19.
More than 77,000 people lost their lives in December to Covid-19, while 6.4 million contracted the virus amid the emergence of a new variant of the virus and delays in efforts to vaccinate people. The second most lethal month was April 2020, with more than 58,000 deaths.
At least 227,651 new cases were reported on Thursday and 3,451 people died, marking the second highest number of daily deaths, according to the NBC News count.
The virus killed more than 346,000 people in the US
At least four cases of a new Covid-19 variant first detected in the UK have been reported in Colorado, California and Florida. However, Dr. Mercedes Carnethon, vice president of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, said the experts are “quite confident that this variant is now everywhere”.
This variant also “appears to affect more adults under the age of 20,” Carnethon told MSNBC. “And I think the reason this is particularly critical is that this younger adult population is circulating more. They are performing some of the essential functions, like delivery work, factory work and are usually there in the population not in line to be vaccinated soon. “
Only about 2.8 million people have received vaccines since vaccinations started in mid-December, although the Trump administration aimed to vaccinate at least 20 million people by the beginning of the new year. Officials in states struggling with an increase in cases said the lack of staff trained to administer the vaccines contributed to the delays.
Even with vaccines available, cases are almost certain to continue to grow, and another increase is expected in the weeks after Christmas and New Year.
Thursday was the second day in a row that New York surpassed its record of new daily cases with 15,700. As the state prepares to potentially report its millionth case on Saturday, officials said they hope to have at least one million people vaccinated this month.
Virginia also hit a single-day record on Thursday, with 5,239 new cases.
In California, hospitalizations have increased more than eight times in two months and almost ten times in Los Angeles County. As hospitals are packed with patients and intensive care units no longer have beds for Covid-19 patients, makeshift wards are being installed in tents, arenas and classrooms to make up for the lack of space in crowded hospitals.
On Thursday, the total death toll in California exceeded 25,000, making it the third state to cross that milestone along with New York and Texas.
“The most moving thing is that if we had done a better job of reducing transmission of the virus, many of these deaths would not have happened,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for Los Angeles County, who asked people not to meet and worsen the spread.
Nevada, North Carolina and Wyoming also set new single-day records on Thursday for coronavirus deaths – reporting 59, 123 and 33 dead, respectively.
Joe Murphy and The Associated Press contributed.