and cases are rising again Get those shots! Protect yourself with a mask.

Covid’s toll in the U.S. reaches a once unfathomable number: 1 million deaths
[www.cnbc.com]

The United States on Wednesday surpassed 1 million Covid-19 deaths, according to data compiled by NBC News — a once unthinkable scale of loss even for the country with the world’s highest recorded toll from the virus.

The number — equivalent to the population of San Jose, California, the 10th largest city in the U.S. — was reached at stunning speed: 27 months after the country confirmed its first case of the virus.
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While deaths from Covid have slowed in recent weeks, about 360 people have still been dying every day. The casualty count is far higher than what most people could have imagined in the early days of the pandemic, particularly because former President Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed the virus while in office.

“This is their new hoax,” Trump said of Democrats in front of a cheering crowd at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 28, 2020. “So far we have lost nobody to coronavirus.”

Now, more than two years and 999,999 fatalities later, the U.S. death toll is the world’s highest total by a significant margin, figures show. In a distant second is Brazil, which has recorded just over 660,000 confirmed Covid deaths.

NBC news recently stated that Covid numbers were UP in 47 states.

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Steve G.
and cases are rising again Get those shots! Protect yourself with a mask.

Covid’s toll in the U.S. reaches a once unfathomable number: 1 million deaths
[www.cnbc.com]

The United States on Wednesday surpassed 1 million Covid-19 deaths, according to data compiled by NBC News — a once unthinkable scale of loss even for the country with the world’s highest recorded toll from the virus.

The number — equivalent to the population of San Jose, California, the 10th largest city in the U.S. — was reached at stunning speed: 27 months after the country confirmed its first case of the virus.
-
While deaths from Covid have slowed in recent weeks, about 360 people have still been dying every day. The casualty count is far higher than what most people could have imagined in the early days of the pandemic, particularly because former President Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed the virus while in office.

“This is their new hoax,” Trump said of Democrats in front of a cheering crowd at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 28, 2020. “So far we have lost nobody to coronavirus.”

Now, more than two years and 999,999 fatalities later, the U.S. death toll is the world’s highest total by a significant margin, figures show. In a distant second is Brazil, which has recorded just over 660,000 confirmed Covid deaths.

So, Brazil's fatality rate is the same as the US. Brazil has 64% of the population of the US. By population, the US currently rates 20th. Not great but considering that a large percentage of US Citizens aren't in the best of health isn't really a surprise. I also question some of the fatality data from certain countries. Example is China that claims 3 deaths per million. Bet they're lying thru their teeth.

These numbers are probably meaningless due to under-counting. WHO just revised their worldwide death toll up from 6 to 15 million.

I think it's curious that there are highly infectious variants -- which means that most of us are probably being exposed to them -- but the death toll has declined drastically over the past 3 months or so. The Los Angeles County health department has been putting up the numbers for deaths, hospitalizations, the percentage of positives out of total tests, and so forth. When I looked at the death rate as plotted over the past few months, it was identical to an exponential decay curve with a half life of about two weeks.

In brief, there was a peak about the beginning of February, and the numbers dropped by about half by the middle of the month and then another half by the beginning of March. It has continued to drop to the point that it is nearly zero.

[www.publichealth.lacounty.gov]

Meanwhile, people have been mingling indoors and outdoors, largely stopped wearing masks except where it is socially required, and generally acting as if the epidemic is coming to an end. So I don't see the decrease as due to anything we are doing except being vaccinated to a fairly high percentage.

I would assume that the three hundred or so deaths each day in this country are largely among the unvaccinated. It is that group that presumably is keeping the epidemic alive.

I think it's curious that there are highly infectious variants -- which means that most of us are probably being exposed to them -- but the death toll has declined drastically over the past 3 months or so.

Reading about the 1918 pandemic, that yielded much the same outcome, with various rebounding waves.

There can be multiple reasons for the death rate going down. To start, many of the people most susceptible to dying from the virus may have already died, or survived with enough immunity to keep from getting seriously ill a second time around. Then there has also been progress in the medical field on how to treat serious cases that was not known during the first months. The most susceptible have been mostly vaccinated as well.

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Ca Bob
I would assume that the three hundred or so deaths each day in this country are largely among the unvaccinated. It is that group that presumably is keeping the epidemic alive.

These may be bad assumptions. The latest figure I see for death rate has unvaccinated being about 10 times as likely to die per capita than those who are vaccinated. But with the overall vaccination rate approaching 80%, and over that for those aged more than 5, there are about 8 times as many people in the vaccinated population. So the deaths overall would be close to an even split between the two groups.

The relatively small size of the unvaccinated group also means its contribution to keeping the epidemic going is diluted. Vaccinated individuals who manage to still contract COVID can be asymptomatic and still be able to spread it. Less likely, but so many more possible carriers.

I hate to break it to everyone, but I think we're far from done with this virus (or more correctly, the virus is far from done with us). Amongst other things, we're seeing indications of:

1) New variants always coming up, at a rate far higher than would be expected for typical coronaviruses

2) Some issues with the vaccines, in terms of viral evasion

3) Some issues with the antiviral med that's being given to people with infections, in terms of their getting either recurrent symptoms or infections or both

4) Continuing issues with patients suffering from long COVID.

Expect at least one more wave/surge before the year's end, possibly in the September/October range, if not earlier.

Just because we're not seeing a lot of hospitalizations/deaths now, doesn't mean that everything is magically "gone". Remember also that the U.S. doesn't function in a vacuum, and what we see abroad is often a portent of what we'll be seeing here.

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

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JoeH
But with the overall vaccination rate approaching 80%, and over that for those aged more than 5, there are about 8 times as many people in the vaccinated population.

I didn't think the vaccination rate in the U.S. was that high. Is it really?

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The culling continues...

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It is what it is.

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AllGold

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JoeH
But with the overall vaccination rate approaching 80%, and over that for those aged more than 5, there are about 8 times as many people in the vaccinated population.

I didn't think the vaccination rate in the U.S. was that high. Is it really?

I don't think it is, and even if it is... you still have areas like my state, which are still hovering at the 50% vaccination rate. (And of that 50% ... you don't know if they've received both shots, if they've gotten their boosters, etc.)

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

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AllGold

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JoeH
But with the overall vaccination rate approaching 80%, and over that for those aged more than 5, there are about 8 times as many people in the vaccinated population.

I didn't think the vaccination rate in the U.S. was that high. Is it really?

It is at 83% for those who have had at least a single dose according to the figures on the NY Times COVID tracker page. The rate is 70% for fully vaccinated, 5 and up. A single dose may not be as effective as fully vaccinated, but it does provide some protection. The highly vaccinated states definitely bring up the average, but there are close to 20 states that are under 60%, mostly in the South.