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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 17 May 2022
U.S. deaths from COVID hit 1 million, less than 2 1/2 years in

From Front

By CARLA K. JOHNSON
AP Medical Writer
The U.S. death toll from CO-
VID-19 hit 1 million on Mon-
day, a once-unimaginable
figure that only hints at the
multitudes of loved ones
and friends staggered by
grief and frustration.
The confirmed number of
dead is equivalent to a
9/11 attack every day for
336 days. It is roughly equal
to how many Americans
died in the Civil War and
World War II combined. It’s
as if Boston and Pittsburgh
were wiped out.
“It is hard to imagine a mil-
lion people plucked from
this earth,” said Jennifer
Nuzzo, who leads a new
pandemic center at the
Brown University School
of Public Health in Provi-
dence, Rhode Island. “It’s
still happening and we are
letting it happen.”
Some of those left behind
say they cannot return to Transporter Jo Navarro, right, prepares to move a body of a COVID-19 victim to a morgue at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center
in Los Angeles, Dec. 14, 2021.
normal. They replay their Associated Press
loved ones’ voicemail mes-
sages. Or watch old videos directly or indirectly, as a ago, once for every 1,000 York, lost her father to COV- to hear that sometimes,”
to see them dance. When result the disruption of the deaths. President Joe ID-19 in April 2020. She runs she said. “It gives you a lit-
other people say they are health care system in the Biden on Thursday ordered a support group for griev- tle bit of reassurance while
done with the virus, they world’s richest country, is flags lowered to half-staff ing families on Facebook also tearing your heart out.”
bristle with anger or ache believed to be far higher. and called each life “an ir- and has seen it divided Some have offered solace
in silence. “’Normal.’ I hate The U.S. has the highest re- replaceable loss.” over vaccinations. She has in poetry. In Philadelphia,
that word,” said Julie Wal- ported COVID-19 death “As a nation, we must not booted people from the poet and social worker Tra-
lace, 55, of Elyria, Ohio, toll of any country, though grow numb to such sorrow,” group for spreading misin- peta Mayson, created a 24-
who lost her husband to health experts have long he said in a statement. “To formation. hour poetry hotline called
COVID-19 in 2020. “All of suspected that the real heal, we must remember.” “I don’t want to hear con- Healing Verse. Traffic to the
us never get to go back to number of deaths in plac- More than half the deaths spiracy theories. I don’t Academy of American Po-
normal.” es such as India, Brazil and occurred since vaccines want to hear anti-science,” ets’ poets.org website rose
Three out of every four Russia is higher than the of- became available in De- said Proia, who wishes her during the pandemic.
deaths were people 65 ficial figures. cember of 2020. Two-thirds father could have been Brian Sonia-Wallace, poet
and older. More men died The milestone comes more of Americans are fully vac- vaccinated. laureate of West Holly-
than women. White peo- than three months after the cinated, and nearly half Sara Atkins, 42, of Wyn- wood, California, has trav-
ple made up most of the U.S. reached 900,000 dead. of them have had at least newood, Pennsylvania, eled the country writing
deaths overall. But Black, The pace has slowed since one booster dose. But de- channels her grief into poems for hire. He imagines
Hispanic and Native Ameri- a harrowing winter surge mand for the vaccine has fighting for global vaccina- a memorial of a million po-
can people have been fueled by the omicron plummeted, and the cam- tion and better access to ems, written by people who
roughly twice as likely to variant. The U.S. is averag- paign to put shots in arms health care to honor her don’t normally write poetry.
die from COVID-19 as their ing about 300 COVID-19 has been plagued by mis- father, Andy Rotman-Zaid, They would talk to those
white counterparts. deaths per day, compared information, distrust and who died of COVID-19 in who are grieving and listen
Most deaths happened with a peak of about 3,400 political polarization. December 2020. for points of connection.
in urban areas, but rural a day in January 2021. New Unvaccinated people “My father gave me “What we need as a nation
places — where opposition cases are on the rise again, have a 10 times greater risk marching orders to end it is empathy,” said Tanya
to masks and vaccinations climbing more than 60% in of dying of COVID-19 than and make sure it doesn’t Alves, 35, of Weston, Flor-
tends to run high — paid a the past two weeks to an the fully vaccinated, ac- happen again,” Atkins said ida, who lost her 24-year-
heavy price at times. average of about 86,000 cording to the CDC. of the pandemic. “He told old sister to COVID-19 in
The death toll less than 2 a day — still well below “To me, that is what is just me, ‘Politicize the hell out October. “Over two years
1/2 years into the outbreak the all-time high of over so particularly heartbreak- of my death if I die of this.’” into the pandemic, with
is based on death certifi- 800,000, reached when the ing,” Nuzzo said. Vaccines Julie Wallace and her hus- all the cases and lives lost,
cate data compiled by the omicron variant was raging are safe and greatly re- band, Lewis Dunlap, had we should be more com-
Centers for Disease Control during the winter. duce the likelihood of se- cellphone numbers one passionate and respectful
and Prevention’s National The largest bell at Wash- vere illness, she said. They digit apart. She continues when talking about CO-
Center for Health Statistics. ington National Cathe- “largely take the possibility paying to keep his number. VID. Thousands of families
But the real number of lives dral in the nation’s capital of death off the table.” She calls it just to hear his changed forever. This virus
lost to COVID-19, either tolled 1,000 times a week Angelina Proia, 36, of New voice. “It’s just so important is not just a cold.”q