The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now predicts that the United States will have 400,000 coronavirus deaths by Jan. 20, when President Donald Trump leaves office.
The country surpassed 100,000 deaths in May and 200,000 four months later. It exceeded 300,000 in three months and 400,000 seems to last just one month, the CDC said, using a collection of mathematical models. The US has one of the highest mortality rates of the nations hardest hit by the virus, behind only Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, adapted to the population.
The expected rate would mean an additional 65,000 deaths in the coming weeks. The figures recall the increasing speed with which the virus claims to live in the US, emphasizing the urgency of efforts to distribute vaccines.
President-elect Joe Biden was expected on Tuesday to blame the Trump administration for the slow release of vaccines, which amounted to more than 2 million doses administered, a fraction of the 20 million promised by the end of the year.
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Weekly deaths are expected to rise by January 16, even though the number of national cases has dropped by two weeks amid unfortunate holiday reporting. Only Washington State reported an average of seven days in cases that was substantially higher than it was a week ago, according to Covid Tracking Project data.
Nationwide, the United States posted 162,190 new 19-month Covid cases, according to Covid Tracking Project data. There were at least 335,051 deaths attributed to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.