Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In Just A Month, US Jumps From 300,000 To 400,000 Deaths
NBC News: U.S. Surpasses 400,000 Covid Deaths Nearly One Year After Nation's First Confirmed Case
More than 400,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the U.S., according to an NBC News tally early Tuesday, a milestone that seemed unimaginable at the start of the pandemic a year ago. More than 2 million people have been recorded killed by the virus worldwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. death toll is the world's worst, even though it makes up less than 5 percent of the world's population. As of early Tuesday, there have been 400,103 U.S. deaths, according to NBC News' count. The U.S. confirmed its first case of the virus in Seattle on Jan. 21, 2020. (Talmazan and Elbaum, 1/19)
The New York Times: One Year, 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths: How The U.S. Guaranteed Its Own Failure
For nearly the entire pandemic, political polarization and a rejection of science have stymied the United States’ ability to control the coronavirus. That has been clearest and most damaging at the federal level, where Mr. Trump claimed that the virus would “disappear,” clashed with his top scientists and, in a pivotal failure, abdicated responsibility for a pandemic that required a national effort to defeat it, handing key decisions over to states under the assumption that they would take on the fight and get the country back to business. (Mervosh, Baker, Mazzei and Walker, 1/17)
USA Today: 'Blood On His Hands': As US Nears 400,000 COVID-19 Deaths, Experts Blame Trump Administration For A 'Preventable' Loss Of Life
That total is fast approaching the 405,000 U.S. fatalities from World War II – thousands of them recorded when Harry Truman was president after Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in April 1945 – to rank as the third-deadliest event in the history of the republic. About 618,000-750,000 were killed in the Civil War of 1861-1865. Many public health experts and historians blame the Trump administration for the extent of the COVID-19 devastation. (Ortiz, 1/17)
The Washington Post: 400,000: The Invisible Deaths Of Covid-19
In a Connecticut hospital room, a woman less than 48 hours from death posted on Facebook: “It is now just a matter of trying to keep me comfortable till I pass.” A few days before Christmas, less than a week before he died at home, a California man texted his daughter: “Vaccines on the way. Gettin kinda close.” Nearly 400,000 Americans have now died of covid-19. It took 12 weeks for the death toll to rise from 200,000 to 300,000. The death toll has leaped from 300,000 to almost 400,000 in less than five weeks. (Fisher, Rozsa, Kreidler and Gowen, 1/17)
In related news —
AP: Coronavirus Deaths Rising In 30 US States Amid Winter Surge
Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold. As Americans observed a national holiday Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded with federal authorities to curtail travel from countries where new variants are spreading. Referring to new versions detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, Cuomo said: “Stop those people from coming here.... Why are you allowing people to fly into this country and then it’s too late?” (Crary, 1/19)
The Hill: Worldwide Coronavirus Deaths Pass 2 Million
The world passed 2 million coronavirus deaths on Friday, a stunning toll that is continuing to rise as more contagious variants of the virus take hold. The United States has had, by far, the most deaths and cases of any country in the world, at more than 390,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom follow. (Sullivan, 1/15)
