Washington: Coronavirus deaths in the United States surpassed 4,50,000 Thursday. The daily deaths in the United States remained stubbornly high at more than 3,000 a day. This fatality rate continued to worry the Joe Biden-led government despite falling infections and the arrival of multiple vaccines.
Infectious disease specialists expect deaths to start dropping soon, after new cases hit a peak right around the beginning of the year. New COVID-19 deaths could ebb as early as next week, said the new director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Rochelle Walensky
However, there is also the risk that improving trends in infections and hospitalisations could be offset by people relaxing. Walensky is worried that people will gather this Sunday to watch football. “I am worried about Super Bowl which will be played Sunday, quite honestly,” Walensky said Thursday.
Walensky said one reason cases and hospitalisations are not rising is because the effect of holiday gatherings has faded. The effect on deaths is delayed. The daily toll amounts to 50,000 new fatalities in the last two weeks alone. “We are still in quite a bad place,” she said.
United States reported 3,912 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, down from the pandemic peak of 4,466 deaths January 12. The biggest driver to the US death toll over the past month has been California. It has averaged more than 500 deaths per day in recent weeks.
Alabama is another hot spot. The seven-day rolling average of deaths there has risen over the past two weeks, from 74 to 147 deaths per day. Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee also saw surges in deaths.
The hardest hit demographic groups continue to be the oldest and frailest, said Dr Thomas Holland of the Duke University. When the COVID-19 pandemic first swept through the US, it was concentrated in nursing homes, prisons and other congregate care settings. It later spread more broadly.
“But deaths have still been concentrated among older patients and patients’ with other health problems, Holland said. “Even as the pandemic has spread more broadly in the population, the demographics of who dies from COVID-19 have not really changed,” he added.
In Florida, for instance, 83 per cent of deaths attributed to the virus have been in people 65 and older.
Still, that has not been enough to inspire some people to wear masks. A recent viral video from ‘Oakes Farms Seed to Table’, a local grocery store in Naples, Florida, showed both maskless customers and employees. They were chatting and laughing, without any social distancing.
Alfie Oakes, the store’s owner, told NBC’s ‘Today’ show he knows masks do not work. He said he does not believe the coronavirus has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the United States.
“That is total hogwash,” Oakes said. “Why don’t we shut the world down because of the heart attacks? Why don’t we lock down cities because of heart attacks?” he added.
Public health experts are watching Florida closely this week, because the Super Bowl will be played in Tampa. City leaders and the NFL are trying to ensure social distancing by capping attendance at a third of the stadium’s capacity – 22,000 people. Still, there will be parties, events at bars and clubs, and other activities that draw people together.