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U.S. NEWS Saturday 5 February 2022

U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hits 900,000, sped by omicron

By MARK KENNEDY and KEN off U.S. life expectancy.
SWEET Ja said he and other medi-
Associated Press cal professionals are frus-
Propelled in part by the trated that policymakers
wildly contagious omicron are seemingly running out
variant, the U.S. death toll of ideas for getting people
from COVID-19 hit 900,000 to roll up their sleeves.
on Friday, less than two "There aren't a whole lot of
months after eclipsing tools left. We need to dou-
800,000. ble down and come up
The two-year total, as com- with new ones," he said.
piled by Johns Hopkins Uni- When the vaccine was
versity, is greater than the rolled out in mid-Decem-
population of Indianapolis, ber 2020, the death toll
San Francisco, or Charlotte, stood at about 300,000. It
North Carolina. hit 600,000 in mid-June 2021
The milestone comes more and 700,000 on Oct. 1. On
than 13 months into a vac- Dec. 14, it reached 800,000.
cination drive that has It took just 51 more days to
been beset by misinforma- get to 900,000, the fastest
tion and political and legal 100,000-death jump since
strife, though the shots have last winter.
proved safe and highly ef- The latest 100,000 deaths
fective at preventing seri- encompass those caused
ous illness and death. Kristin Travis, a community outreach doula, holds a home COVID-19 test kit Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022, by both the delta variant
"It is an astronomically high while picking up supplies at Open Arms Perinatal Services before going out to visit some of her and omicron, which began
number. If you had told clients in Seattle. spreading rapidly in De-
most Americans two years Associated Press cember and became the
ago as this pandemic was predominant version in the
getting going that 900,000 Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, a tal with COVID-19 turning She had planned to be by U.S. before the month was
Americans would die over public health professor at downward, deaths are run- his bedside, but the rules out.
the next few years, I think Johns Hopkins Bloomberg ning at more than 2,400 per barred her from going to While omicron has proved
most people would not School of Public Health. day on average, the high- the hospital. She wonders less likely to cause severe
have believed it," said Dr. "We've learned a tremen- est level since last winter. if his condition was made illness than delta, the sheer
Ashish K. Jha, dean of the dous amount of humility in Despite its wealth and its worse by his isolation. She number of people who be-
Brown University School of the face of a lethal and world-class medical insti- wonders if he was scared. came infected with omi-
Public Health. contagious respiratory vi- tutions, the U.S. has the She wonders how many cron contributed to the
He noted that most of the rus." highest reported toll of any other cases like his there high number of deaths.
deaths happened after the Nor is COVID-19 finished country, and even then, are. "We have been fighting
vaccine gained authoriza- with the United States. Dr. the real number of lives lost "There are all these stories among ourselves about
tion. Andrew Noymer, a profes- directly or indirectly to the and all that pain," she said. tools that actually do save
"We got the medical sci- sor of public health at the coronavirus is thought to COVID-19 has become one lives. Just the sheer amount
ence right. We failed on the University of California at be significantly higher. of the top three causes of of politics and misinfor-
social science. We failed Irvine, predicted the U.S. Experts believe some COV- death in America, behind mation around vaccines,
on how to help people get will hit 1 million deaths by ID-19 deaths have been mi- the big two — heart dis- which are remarkably ef-
vaccinated, to combat March 1. sattributed to other condi- ease and cancer. Noymer fective and safe, is stagger-
disinformation, to not politi- "I think it's important for us tions. And some Americans said if the mortality rate ing," Sharfstein said.
cize this," Jha said. not to be numbed. Each are thought to have died from COVID-19 continues, He added: "This is the
"Those are the places one of those numbers is of chronic illnesses such as it will shave up to two years consequence."q
where we have failed as someone," said the Rev. heart disease and diabetes
America." Gina Anderson-Cloud, se- because they were unable
Just 64% of the population nior pastor of Fredericks- or unwilling to obtain treat-
is fully vaccinated, or about burg United Methodist ment during the crisis.
212 million Americans, ac- Church in Virginia. "Those Anderson-Cloud lost her
cording to the Centers for are mothers, fathers, chil- dementia-stricken father
Disease Control and Pre- dren, our elders." after he was hospitalized
vention. While omicron is loosening for cancer surgery and
"We have underestimated its grip on the U.S., with new then isolated in a COVID-19
our enemy here, and we cases plunging in recent ward. He went into cardiac
have under-prepared to weeks and the number of arrest, was revived, but
protect ourselves," said Americans in the hospi- died about a week later.

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