US surpasses 600,000 deaths from the coronavirus; California reopens: Latest COVID-19 updates

The U.S. surpassed 600,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, a stark reminder of the pandemic's enduring toll even as the nation continues to take steps toward normalcy.

The remarkable progress in the battle against the coronavirus, thanks to a concerted vaccination effort led by the federal government, has ushered in the lifting of restrictions and perhaps even a sense that the pandemic’s over. The current seven-day average of about 430 deaths a day is less than one-seventh of the 3,300 daily fatalities during the ghastly January peak.

But even 430 represents a fourfold increase on the number of Americans per day who die of the flu in a typical year, and the U.S. still leads the world by plenty in reported coronavirus cases (33.4 million) and deaths. No other nation comes within 100,000 COVID-19 fatalities.

And with half of Americans still unvaccinated, the potential for further grief and suffering has been far from eliminated.

"The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight, but it doesn’t bring back any of those lives or bring solace to the grieving families," said Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. 

"My other worry is that, for too many Americans and politicians, the rush for life to 'get back to normal' will lead to complacency about the problems that made us vulnerable to COVID in the first place. The same root causes have made Americans sicker than people in other countries for many years."

Read More:    USAtoday.com

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