Story at a glance
- As the U.S. Capitol was stormed by protesters, a record number of Americans died from COVID-19 on Wednesday.
- The rapid rollout of vaccines can potentially slow the death toll.
Following the turmoil experienced in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the country saw another tragic and historic event: 3,865 recorded COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, the highest recorded during the pandemic.
This brings the cumulative death toll to 361,123.
Deaths and hospitalizations have been rising nationally, coinciding with the weeks following the 2020 holiday season, in which scores of travelers ignored public health advice and convened socially for holiday festivities.
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FORMER FDA HEAD THINKS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS NEW MUTATION OF COVID-19 IS ‘ALREADY IN THE US’
A new COVID-19 strain thought to be more contagious is also circulating throughout the U.S., emerging in states like California, Colorado, Texas and Pennsylvania. Public health experts largely believe that the current vaccines will be effective against the virus mutations, although the deployment of COVID-19 vaccine doses has been relatively slow.
Leading infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci earlier acknowledged that although the vaccine rollout has suffered some “glitches,” it is entirely feasible that efforts can be stepped up.
“Once you get rolling and get some momentum, I think we can achieve 1 million a day or even more,” he told reporters.
Unfortunately, projections regarding the COVID-19 fatality count suggest a grim picture if a rapid vaccine rollout isn’t achieved; if more people are not inoculated, 567,195 Americans could die from COVID-19 by April 1, according to data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
With the use of a fast vaccine rollout, the fatality count stands to be brought down to 555,373, per the same model.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a plan that aims to vaccinate higher-risk populations first, with health care workers and long-term care residents currently receiving the first available doses.
CDC data states that more than 21 million doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been distributed, with about 5.9 million people having received the first shot.
Both vaccines will require two doses in order to be completely inoculated.
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