The US coronavirus death toll eclipsed 400,000 on Tuesday in the waning hours of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The running total of lives lost, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is almost equivalent to the population of New Orleans.
The grim milestone comes as thousands more deaths are expected in a bleak American winter as a more transmissible strain spreads across the country and a mass vaccination campaign gets off to a slow start.
A widely cited model by the University of Washington projects the death toll will reach nearly 567,000 by May 1.
While the Trump administration has been credited with Operation Warp Speed -, the crash programme to develop and distribute coronavirus vaccines – the outgoing republican has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus, mocked masks, railed against lockdowns, promoted unproven and unsafe treatments, undercut scientific experts and expressed scant compassion for the victims.
He didn’t change tact even after testing positive for Covid-19 himself.
‘This is just one step on an ominous path of fatalities,’ said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and one of many public health experts who contend the Trump administration’s handling of the crisis led to thousands of avoidable deaths.
‘Everything about how it’s been managed has been infused with incompetence and dishonesty, and we’re paying a heavy price,’ he said.
The White House defended Trump’s record on tackling the pandemic.
‘We grieve every single life lost to this pandemic, and thanks to the president’s leadership, Operation Warp Speed has led to the development of multiple safe and effective vaccines in record time, something many said would never happen,’ said White House spokesman Judd Deere.
The US has approved two coronavirus vaccines – the Pfizer/BioNTech jab and the Moderna jab. The roll-out hasn’t happened as quickly as planned, with data from Bloomberg today suggesting only about 54 % of vaccine doses distributed to states have been administered to people,
The Biden/Harris administration has made it a top priority to reign in the pandemic as soon as they take office tomorrow.
The incoming administration has promised to vaccinate 100 million people in his first 100 days in office, a goal Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said was achievable.
It has also presented plans to support families reeling from both the health and economic impacts of the pandemic.
Biden encouraged Americans today to light candles in their windows in remembrance of those who have died.
Landmarks across the United States will be illuminated on Tuesday evening as part of a ceremony led by the incoming Democrat to honour those who lost their lives to the virus.
He and Kamala Harris paid tribute to those who died at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
The nation reached the 400,000 milestone in just under a year.
It took four months to reach the first 100,000 dead but just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000.
The first known deaths from the virus in the U.S. were in early February 2020, both of them in Santa Clara County, California.
While the count is based on figures supplied by government agencies around the world, the real death toll is believed to be significantly higher, in part because of inadequate testing and cases inaccurately attributed to other causes early on.
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