The United States has reached a grim milestone: More than 1 million Americans have now perished due to coronavirus since the pandemic began two years ago.
According to numbers compiled by NBC News, the one-millionth death from COVID-19 in the U.S. occurred Wednesday.
Other measures vary on where the U.S. officially stands on COVID-19 deaths — The New York Times, for example, places total deaths due to coronavirus as of this week at 995,000, while worldometers.com says 1.02 million people in the country have died so far from the virus.
Experts warn that these are conservative estimates and that the true death toll is probably much higher. Indeed, other figures have been revised this week, including the WHO’s estimate of global deaths due to COVID-19, which is now believed to be around 15 million,, a tripling of the organization’s previous figure.
NBC News’s figures indicate that the daily rate at which Americans are dying from the virus has slowed compared to what it’s been in recent weeks, but it still remains in the hundreds. As of right now, around 360 Americans die daily due to COVID-19.
The U.S. is also ahead of every other country in the world, in terms of the raw number of deaths it has seen since the pandemic began. Brazil, the country with the second-highest number of COVID-related deaths, has seen just over 660,000 deaths recorded, NBC News reported.
Study after study has concluded that many of the coronavirus deaths in the U.S. could have been avoided through public health measures.
The virus itself was politicized, in many ways, by far right figures and former President Donald Trump, who continuously downplayed the significance of the virus as his administration disseminated conflicting accounts over the pandemic. Trump, who sought reelection in 2020, saw the practice of mask-wearing to limit the spread of the virus as an affront to his presidency, and peddled fraudulent COVID-19 treatments that many of his supporters continue to promote.
Trump’s actions bred public distrust over the efficacy of vaccines. According to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, the total number of Americans receiving at least three shots of a vaccine so far — indicating they’ve received a booster shot since completing their original vaccine series — is 55 percent. Among self-identified liberals in the poll, that number is much higher, at 68 percent; among conservatives, however, it’s lower, at 50 percent.
But skepticism among conservatives isn’t the only reason why the coronavirus pandemic has been especially bad in the U.S., compared to other countries. The for-profit health care system in the country, too, has been credited with being largely responsible for many avoidable deaths in the U.S., as a more equitable system of health care (such as a single-payer model) could have helped more people survive the pandemic.
According to a report from The Lancet last year, nearly 40 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. could have been avoided, had a better health care system been in place before the pandemic started and disinformation about the virus from the former president and others been limited.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $81,000 in one-time donations and to add 1250 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
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With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy