US COVID-19 deaths reach 800,000

The death toll in the United States related to COVID-19 reached 800,156 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to NBC News. The number is more than the population of Seattle or Boston.

More than 450,000 people have died from COVID-19 in 2021, which is 57 percent of all COVID deaths in the U.S. The number increased from last year due to the more transmissible delta variant, which remains the most dominant version of the virus.

It took 119 days for the number of deaths to increase from 600,000 to 700,000, and only 74 days to go from 700,000 to 800,000.  

The seven-day death average rose 27.8 percent since last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One in 100 citizens who are 65 or older has died from the virus. For those younger, the ratio is 1 in 1,400, according to The New York Times.

The states with the highest death count are California with 75,520, Texas with 74,925, and Florida with 62,007. However, Alabama, Oklahoma, and West Virginia have the highest death rates per capita.

The United States has the highest death rate compared to any other country in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. is followed by Brazil with 616,457 deaths and India with 475,636. The number of deaths is three times higher in the U.S. than in Canada and 11 times more than Japan.

The number of deaths in the country is expected to increase as colder weather leads to more time indoors. New infections are averaging 118,515 per day, increasing 37.3 percent since the last seven-day moving average, according to the CDC. Hospitalizations also increased 15.9 percent since the last seven-day average.

As of December 9, 71.5 percent of the US population—237 million—have been fully vaccinated. More than 49.9 million of those vaccinated have received a booster.