US coronavirus death toll surpasses 200,000

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The United States has by far the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths as the country’s death toll topped the 200,000 mark on Tuesday.
• According to Johns Hopkins University reports, the US has reported 200,005 deaths and 6.5 million cases out of the 31 million cases and at least 1 million deaths worldwide.
• Despite the figures, President Trump continually minimized the threat of the virus saying he wanted to avoid panic.

The Coronavirus death toll in the United States had already surpassed the 200,000 mark on Tuesday, a bleak reminder of how the COVID-19 devastated communities and wrecked economies in the US and around the world. 

Data collected by Johns Hopkins University showed that there have been at least 200,005 reported deaths in the US from complications from the virus with more than 6.5 million coronavirus cases—the highest in the world by a large measure.   

So far, more than 31 million coronavirus cases and almost 1 million deaths have been reported across the globe and experts say the actual numbers are most likely higher.

The US passed the grim milestone 42 days before the upcoming presidential elections. According to a YouGov poll, 57 percent of voters objected to President Trump’s response to the pandemic . 

Trump’s handling of the coronavirus has come under intense scrutiny amid reports that he deliberately undermined the threat at the start of the year. 

Even as cases and deaths increased, Trump continued to downplay the threat of the virus claiming that his reason for doing so is to avoid panic.   

Members of the White House coronavirus task force predicted in late March that U.S. deaths will reach around 100,000 to 200,000 if Americans will observe social distancing guidelines “almost perfectly.” 

Still, Trump, who reiterated his view that the virus will eventually “round the corner” with or without a vaccine, continually assured that the U.S. won’t reach a six-digit death toll. He even claimed that if not for his efforts, millions of American lives would have been lost.

When asked on Monday to rate his administration’s response to the pandemic, Trump told “Fox & Friends”: “We take an A-plus. We’ve done a phenomenal job. Not just a good job, a phenomenal job.” 

However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases disputed Trump’s statements saying that Americans will need to “hunker down” especially during the fall and winter months where people have to stay indoors. 

When asked by Dr. Sanjay Gupta in an interview on Tuesday to grade the administration’s handling of the virus, he replied saying, “They don’t need a sound bite from me. Just look at the numbers.” 

Meanwhile, estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington projected an additional 220,000 American deaths by the end of 2020, bringing a total of U.S. deaths to more than 400,000.

Source: AOL.Com