The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 now exceeds the number of American service members who died in the First World War.
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The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 now exceeds the number of American service members who died in the First World War.
The tally for the United States from Johns Hopkins University reached more than 116,700 on Tuesday, just past the 116,516 Americans believed to have died in the war a century ago.
Both figures are far from precise, due to a lack of testing during the pandemic and the challenges of counting the war dead, though historians and the Congressional Research Service say 116,516 is the best figure for World War One battlefield deaths.
The U.S. has the most confirmed infections and deaths from COVID-19 in the world and, as parts of the economy have reopened in recent weeks, cases have surged in a number of states.
WATCH | Premature re-opening blamed for upward trend of COVID-19 cases in U.S:
As cases of COVID-19 trend upward in several U.S. states, some experts blame reopening too soon. 2:01
Texas is among the states reporting spikes in cases, setting a single-day high with 2,622 new infections Tuesday and a record for COVID-19 hospitalizations for the eighth time in nine days, with 2,518.
“It does raise concerns, but there is no reason right now to be alarmed,” Gov. Greg Abbott said, urging people to wear masks and stay home as much as possible.
The Republican said Texas’ health-care system can handle the surge as the nation’s second-most-populated state pushes forward with reopening one of the world’s largest economies.
Florida’s confirmed cases also set a daily record, at almost 2,800. With hurricane season underway, the virus has spread to the team that operates the nation’s hurricane hunter planes. Five employees at the team’s Lakeland, Fla., base tested positive last week, forcing others into quarantine, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said.
New cases in Arizona hit an alarming daily high of nearly 2,400 — almost double the previous record, health officials said. The state also reported 25 additional deaths, while hospital intensive care units were hovering around 80 per cent capacity.
In Tennessee, the number of infected patients in hospitals has reached its highest level, at more than 400, Vanderbilt University researchers said. A surge in new cases and hospitalizations has led Memphis and Nashville to delay