The US death toll from COVID-19 topped 800,000 on Tuesday, a number once unimaginable. Made further tragic, over 200,000 of those deaths came after the vaccines were widely available.
Compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the number of deaths is roughly equivalent to how many Americans die due to heart disease or stroke each year.
The United States still holds the highest reported toll of any country. It accounts for approximately 4% of the world’s population but almost 15% of the 5.3% known deaths from the coronavirus.
The true number of deaths in the US and around the world is believed to be significantly higher because of cases that were overlooked or concealed.
The University of Washington projects a total of over 880,000 reported deaths in the US by March 1.
Health experts lament that many of the deaths in the United States were even more heartbreaking because they were preventable due to the vaccine which became available in mid-December last year and was opened to all adults by mid-April of this year.
About 200 million Americans or roughly 60% of the population are fully vaccinated. However, scientists say more need to be vaccinated to keep the virus in check.
The highly contagious delta variant crossed the latest threshold with cases and hospitalizations on the rise again.