The U.S. hit 1,000 coronavirus deaths for a second straight day amid a continued spike in COVID-19 cases across the country.
The Johns Hopkins University data dashboard reported 1,195 U.S. coronavirus-related deaths Wednesday, the second consecutive day with more than a thousand fatalities. Meanwhile, the Covid Tracking Project showed nearly 60,000 people are hospitalized with the virus across the country, marking a continue rise from the end of June.
Hospitalizations are only about 200 short of the peak from April.
The statistics come as several states see alarming surges in coronavirus cases after initially flattening the rate of infections earlier this year.
States like Florida, Texas, Arizona and California have seen the sharpest spikes, though a number of other states are grappling with heightened rates of positive tests.
“Right now, we have close to 1,000 casualties a day, so if we don’t change that trajectory, you could do the math and see where we are towards the end of the year,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Wednesday.
More than 143,000 people in the U.S. have died from the coronavirus, the most in total reported by any country in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins data.
In total, the U.S. is reporting 43.30 deaths per 100,000 people, according to data, which would be the 10th highest death rate reported in the world. It means the U.S. has a higher death rate than such countries as Canada, Ireland and Switzerland but a lower death rate than the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy.
Of the countries currently most affected by the coronavirus, however, the U.S. has the third highest death rate behind just the United Kingdom and Chile, according to John Hopkins data.
The nationwide death rate for positive tests rests at roughly 3.6 percent, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week the actual number of cases in the U.S. could be up to 10-times greater than the official number.
President TrumpDonald John TrumpJoe Arpaio loses bid for his old position as sheriff Trump brushes off view that Russia denigrating Biden: ‘Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have’ Trump tees up executive orders on economy but won’t sign yet MORE, after initially dismissing the severity of the virus, acknowledged Tuesday that the pandemic will probably “get worse before it gets better” and encouraged all Americans to wear masks in public. Several governors have also issued mask mandates to try to blunt the spread of the illness.
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