John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center 2/04/2022, 4:21 PM
US Totals: Confirmed COVID Deaths 901,388

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The United States has surpassed 900,000 coronavirus deaths.

“The US reported Friday that there had been more than 900,000 deaths from the coronavirus since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Experts believe the true burden of disease to be much higher.

"‘Today, our nation marks another tragic milestone — 900,000 American lives have been lost to COVID-19," the President said in a written statement released Friday night. ‘They were beloved mothers and fathers, grandparents, children, brothers and sisters, neighbors, and friends. Each soul is irreplaceable.’

Biden acknowledged the length of the pandemic, saying that after nearly two years, I know that the emotional, physical, and psychological weight of this pandemic has been incredibly difficult to bear.’ “Biden urged Americans to get vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19, calling vaccines ‘our most important tool’ in fighting the virus and saying the nation can save lives ‘if everybody does their part.’

“Unvaccinated adults have a 97 times greater risk of dying from Covid-19 than adults who are fully vaccinated and boosted, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
CNN
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Statistical warning lights flash on the pandemic dashboard.

"We are guaranteed to have another variant surge," Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, told USA TODAY. "While the current vaccines and boosters worked for omicron, they are less likely to work against future variants. Every time the virus infects someone, it mutates a very small amount. These tiny changes are also occurring in breakthrough infections among the vaccinated. And with millions of breakthrough infections, they are adding up, Nolan said. Driven by the omicron variant, the United States reported as many cases of COVID-19 last month as it did in all of 2020. The wildly contagious omicron put record numbers of people into hospitals in January, even though on a per-case basis infections are milder.

Dr. Matthew Heinz said he is "terrified" lax vaccination efforts are setting the world up for a variant that is highly transmissible like omicron but also has a higher death rate. Still, the recurring theme of public health officials remains vaccination. An average of more than 2,000 Americans are dying daily, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mutations and varied vaccination status blur the data somewhat…

It's not just death. The unvaccinated are more likely to get long COVID-19, which can cause mobility issues, heart damage and tachycardia, lung damage and shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, and more. These issues can last six months or longer, and it's possible they could be permanent, said Lahita, director of the Institute for Autoimmune and Rheumatic Disease at Saint Joseph Health in New Jersey.” USA Today

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