US COVID-19 Daily Deaths Surpass 4,000... Record High Reached

Pouch Owner "January Outlook More Gloomy"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The United States has recorded over 4,000 daily deaths from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for the first time, setting a new record high.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the leading authority on infectious diseases in the U.S., warned that the situation will worsen this month, showing a worsening trend despite vaccine distribution.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 7th (local time), the daily new COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. surpassed 4,000, breaking the previous record once again. This brings the total cumulative COVID-19 deaths to over 365,400.

CNN also reported, citing statistics from Johns Hopkins University, that the daily COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. reached 4,051, surpassing 4,000 for the first time.

In an interview with public radio NPR on the same day, Fauci gave a pessimistic outlook that the death toll will remain high for some time. He attributed this to the surge in travel and gatherings during the year-end holiday season.

Fauci said, "We expect the situation to worsen as we enter January."

He added that it is still possible to slow the steep rise by strictly adhering to health measures such as social distancing and wearing masks.

He warned, "Now is not the time to back down from strong quarantine measures."

Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), also mentioned to the Washington Post (WP) the day before that "the next couple of weeks are truly critical."

Although the U.S. is accelerating vaccine administration, initial delays combined with slow vaccine distribution have resulted in the spread outpacing containment efforts.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 5.9 million people in the U.S. have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so far. This is far below the federal government's plan to vaccinate at least 20 million people by the end of last year.

However, Collins said regarding this, "I was not greatly surprised by the rough start to vaccine distribution," and that even if the rollout does not proceed like clockwork due to implementation issues, we should not be overly shocked.

Fauci also advised patience as vaccine administration is gaining momentum nationwide.

He mentioned that large-scale programs inevitably face obstacles and that the fact vaccinations began during the December holiday season may have contributed to delays.

He said, "I think it is appropriate to observe the situation over the next couple of weeks," adding, "If we continue to fall behind our original goals, we really need to make changes to what we are doing."

However, the NYT reported that the pace of vaccinations has begun to accelerate.

In the third week since vaccinations started, the number of people vaccinated exceeded the combined total of those vaccinated in the first and second weeks.

According to CDC statistics, the number of vaccinated individuals increased by 470,000 and 612,000 between December 5 and 6, and between December 6 and 7, respectively, the NYT reported.

COVID-19 is recording deadly numbers across the U.S.

In recent days, Wyoming and Arizona have shown high fatality rates per capita, and in Florida, the number of new confirmed cases reached a daily record high of 19,800 on the same day, the NYT reported.