The number of Coronavirus deaths in the United States has surpassed the number of people lost during the attack on 9-11 almost 19 years ago and could within the next 24 hours surpasses China’s toll.
Almost three thousand people died in the terrorist attacks on the United States but COVID-19 has proven more deadly as the U.S toll, at almost 3200, edges closer to China’s 3300 dead. This as President Donald Trump again praised his administration’s response to the outbreak announcing that more than one million test had now been conducted in the country, more than anywhere else in the world by number.
Trump speaking at the White House said, “Today, we reached a historic milestone in our war against the coronavirus. Over one million Americans have now been tested, more than any other country by far. Not even close.”
The United States still lags behind others in per capita testing. South Korea’s at 410 000 tests in a population of 51 million gives it a per capita rate of 8000 tests per million. Italy, that has suffered the highest number of deaths globally at over 11 000, has done almost 500 000 tests; population 60 million. That’s 7800 tests per million. The United States at one million tests in a population of 327 million leaves it with 3000 tests per one million people.
And when a journalist put that to the President, he called her question snarky.
“It’s very much on par per capita, we have areas that are very much… I know South Korea better than anybody, it’s a very tight – do you know how many people are in Seoul? Do you know how big the city of Seoul is? 38 million people. That’s bigger than anything we have. 38 million people all tightly wound together. We have vast farmlands, we have vast areas where they don’t have much of a problem, in some cases they have no problem whatsoever. We have done more tests, I didn’t talk about per capita. We have done more tests by far than any country in the world, by far.”
Seoul’s population is actually 9.7 million.
The President also unveiled a new testing kit given emergency clearance by the Food and Drug Administration that could deliver a result in five minutes.
Meanwhile, the city hardest hit by the outbreak took delivery of a 1000-bed Navy hospital ship that will assist with the overflow of non-coronavirus patients as hospitals here and elsewhere struggle to cope with COVID-19 volumes.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, “As the USNS Comfort entered New York Harbour, coming here to save the lives of New Yorkers in our hour of need. We’ve all been through a lot these last few weeks, and we needed this boost. We needed this hope that’s being created by our brothers and sisters in the US Navy and the Marine Corps, everyone who is here to help us at this crucial moment. This ship arriving is not just an example of help arriving in a physical form. It’s not just about the beds and the doctors and the equipment. It’s also about hope.”
Monday’s death toll in the United States exceeded 500 with the New York Governor warning that figure could ultimately reach 800 per day. This comes as the President’s Coronavirus Task Force plans to present the American public with projection models that have informed decision-making within the White House situation room.
This could add substance to predictions that between 100 and 200-thousand people could die due to the current outbreak in the United States while Federal social distancing guidelines could also be tweaked.
Below is a Live Tracking of the cases, death toll and other information, updated daily:
