Number of Covid-19 Deaths in the US Close to Surpassing 1918 Flu Pandemic Toll

As many as 675,446 Americans have been killed due to Covid-19, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

The total Covid-19 cases in the country were over 42 million.

The fatalities are expected to continue to rise as the country is currently experiencing another wave of new infections, fueled by the fast-spreading Delta variant.

1918 Flu Killed Estimated 675,000 Americans

"The number of reported deaths from Covid in the US will surpass the toll of the 1918 flu pandemic this month. We cannot become hardened to the continuing, and largely preventable, tragedy," tweeted Tom Frieden, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to IANS.

SARS-CoV-2
Novel Coronavirus (Representational Picture) Pixabay

The 1918 flu killed an estimated 675,000 Americans, according to the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention. It was considered America's most lethal pandemic in recent history up until now.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the death toll in the US exceeded 663,000, which meant that roughly 1 in every 500 Americans succumbed to the disease since the onset of the pandemic early last year, a media report said.

"The goal of testing, mask-wearing, keeping six feet apart and limiting gatherings was to slow the spread of the highly infectious virus until a vaccine could stamp it out. The vaccines came but not enough people have been immunised, and the triumph of science waned as mass death and disease remain," a Washington Post report said.

According to The Washington Post, people older than 85 make up only 2 per cent of the US population, but a quarter of the total death toll.

One in 35 people 85 or older died of Covid-19, compared with 1 in 780 people age 40 to 64.

Levels Not Seen Since Last Winter

Death rates for younger groups, 40 to 64 years old, are much lower, but racial inequities grow larger, it said.

Covid-19
Florida funeral homes and crematories are working round the clock to honor the dead. Representational Image/Pixabay

In the younger working-age group, 18 to 39 years old, the racial differences are even greater, with Covid-19 killing Blacks and Hispanics more than three times as often as Whites, and Native Americans almost nine times as much, the report added.

Covid-19 deaths and cases in the US have climbed to levels not seen since last winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden's argument for sweeping new vaccination requirements.

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