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 The United States, on a weekly average, is now losing about 800
lives each day to the virus, according to a Reuters tally. That is
down from a peak of 2,806 daily deaths recorded on April 15.
(Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ZH76z6)
During the early months of the pandemic, 200,000 deaths was regarded
by many as the maximum number of lives likely to be lost in the
United States to the virus.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump defended his
handling of the crisis. He admitted to playing down the danger of
the coronavirus early on because he did not want to "create a
panic."
With barely six weeks left before the election on Nov. 3, Trump is
behind Democratic rival Joe Biden nationally in every major opinion
poll and is neck and neck in key swing states. Trump's handling of
the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn has battered his
standing among many voters.
Trump has frequently questioned the advice of scientific experts on
everything from the timing of a vaccine to reopening schools and
businesses to wearing a mask. He has refused to support a national
mask mandate and held large political rallies where few wore masks.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director
Robert Redfield recently told Congress that a face mask would
provide more guaranteed protection than a vaccine, which would only
be broadly available by "late second quarter, third quarter 2021."
Trump refuted the timeline for the vaccine and said that it may be
available in a matter of weeks and ahead of the Nov. 3 election. On
Friday he said he expects all Americans to have a vaccine by April.
Biden, who often wears a mask and has said he would require masks
nationwide, has warned against a rushed release of a vaccine,
saying, "Let me be clear: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but
I don't trust Donald Trump."
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The CDC currently predicts that the U.S. death toll will reach as high as
218,000 by Oct. 10.
The University of Washington's health institute is forecasting coronavirus
fatalities reaching 378,000 by the end of 2020, with the daily death toll
skyrocketing to 3,000 per day in December.
Over 70% of those in the United States who have lost their lives to the virus
were over the age of 65, according to CDC data https://bit.ly/32C1doQ.
The southern states of Texas and Florida contributed the most deaths in the
United States in the past two weeks and was closely followed by California.
California, Texas and Florida - the three most populous U.S. states - have
recorded the most coronavirus infections and have long surpassed the state of
New York, which was the epicenter of the outbreak in early 2020. The country as
a whole is reporting over 40,000 new infections on average each day.
As it battles a second wave of infections, the United States reported a 17%
increase in the number of new cases last week compared with the previous seven
days, with deaths rising 7% on average in the last, according to a Reuters
analysis.
Six out of every 10,000 residents in the United States has died of the virus,
according to Reuters data, one of the highest rates among developed nations.
Brazil follows the United States in the number of overall deaths due to the
virus, with over 136,000 fatalities.
(Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Rosalba
O'Brien)
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