We all know that 2020 has been a bad year, but now it has been labelled the worst year in US history as deaths are expected to reach 3 million by the end of December for the first time.
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COVID-19 victims have caused death rates to surge this year with one American dying every 33 seconds.
Numbers released by the CDC based on weekly data show that the US has already reached 2.9 million deaths from all causes over the course of the year, leaving the country on track to reach 3.2 million fatalities by the end of the month.
Death tolls usually rise by 20,000-50,000 each year to account for population growth. However, 2020 has seen this number rise by 15% compared to 2019 where only 2.8 million deaths were recorded.
The preliminary CDC data is also lagging in weeks which could see the end of year death count rise even higher.
The coronavirus pandemic has made 2020 one of the biggest years in history, comparable only to 1918 when 116,516 soldiers died in World War One and 675,000 more Americans succumbed to the Spanish Influenza. These events caused death tolls to rise by 46% compared to 1917.
So far the virus alone has caused a death count of 319,000 Americans. A number is continuing to rise. And, amongst fears that the new, more contagious strain has already entered the US undetected, death rates for coronavirus in December have already reached a record high with a seven day average of 2,600.
Now, December is expected to become the deadliest month of the deadliest year as by the 21st alone, the country managed to reach 50,996 deaths and is expected to surpass April’s 52,200 death count.
Last week was the deadliest of all for the country as the US experienced with more than 18,000 COVID-19 related deaths, equating one every 33 seconds.
Health officials are now concerned that the death rate will continue to rise over the Christmas period. Hospitals are already at max capacity as it is but the Christmas period may cause the virus to surge even further out of control as people ignore social distancing rules and gather for Christmas.
US general population won't be vaccinated until next summer
The United States has already begun to roll out two new vaccines across the country but it may be many months before the jab makes a dent in virus cases.
Dr Fauci recently confirmed that the vaccine will most likely not be available to the public until the end of March and could take up until July for most of the country to be vaccinated. He stated:
...We likely will be able to start vaccinating people in the broader category somewhere around the end of March, beginning of April. How long it takes to get everyone who needs to be vaccinated, vaccinated it really varies.
Fauci continued to state that hopefully the majority of residents would be vaccinated come summer:
We're really all saying the same thing - we'll start at a certain time, it may take two, three or four months before everyone gets vaccinated who needs to be. By the time we get into the summer, I hope we'll almost be at that point.
So far the USA has purchased 200 million doses of the vaccine from Moderna and a further 100 million from Pfizer. However, patients require two doses of the vaccine which means only 150 million of the 330 million population will be subject to the first round of jabs.
The US is also having trouble securing more vaccines and Pfizer will not be able to restock until June or July as other countries have already bought up supplies.
