Coronavirus deaths in the United States hit another one-day high at over 4,300, with the country’s attention focused largely on the fallout from the breaching of the Capitol building on Jan. 6.
The nation’s overall death toll from COVID-19 has eclipsed 380,000, according to Johns Hopkins University, and is closing in fast on the number of Americans killed in World War II, or about 407,000. Confirmed infections have topped 22.8 million.
With the country facing a political crisis, the United States recorded 4,327 deaths on Jan. 12, by Johns Hopkins’ count. Arizona and California have been among the hardest-hit states.
The daily figure is subject to revision, but deaths have been rising sharply over the past 2 1/2 months, and the country is now in the most lethal phase of the outbreak yet, even as the vaccine is being rolled out. New cases are running at nearly a quarter-million per day on average.
More than 9.3 million Americans have received their first shot of the vaccine, or less than 3 percent of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s well short of the hundreds of millions whom experts say will need to be inoculated to vanquish the outbreak.
The effort is ramping up around the country. Large-scale, drive-thru vaccination sites have opened at stadiums and other places, enabling people to get their shots through their car windows.
Also, an increasing number of states have begun offering vaccinations to the next group in line—senior citizens —with the minimum age varying from place to place at 65, 70, or 75. Up to now, health care workers and nursing home residents have been given priority in most places.
And the Trump administration announced plans Tuesday to speed up the vaccination drive by releasing the whole supply of doses, instead of holding large quantities in reserve to make sure people get their second shot on time.
