According to the White House, there have been over one million Covid-related deaths in the United States.
President Joe Biden called the deaths a “tragic milestone” and each one a “irreplaceable loss.”
It is the world’s highest official total, though the World Health Organization believes the true death toll is much higher elsewhere.
Out of a population of 330 million, the United States has recorded more than 80 million Covid cases.
The first confirmed case occurred on January 20, 2020, when a man returned to Seattle from Wuhan, China.
After 10 days of pneumonia, coughs, fever, nausea, and vomiting, the 35-year-old survived. However, deaths were only reported a few weeks later.
Death rates have ebbed and flowed in the two years since as waves of the virus swept across the country, reaching highs of more than 4,000 per day in early 2021.
Public health experts attribute the high death toll in the United States to a variety of factors, including high rates of obesity and hypertension, overburdened hospital systems, some vaccine hesitancy, and a large elderly population.
Each US state may have a slightly different definition of a Covid death, and such deaths are frequently caused by factors other than the virus.
“As a nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow,” said President Biden, in his statement marking the one million deaths.
“To heal, we must remember. We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible.”
