Deaths From Coronavirus Taking Place At Almost 2 Per Minute

ACROSS AMERICA — During the time you were putting in an eight-hour shift at work earlier this week, more than 930 Americans were killed by the coronavirus.

The final virus death toll reported in the United States on Wednesday was 2,798. That equates to just under two deaths per minute, about one every 30 seconds. Nine hundred thirty-two over the course of eight hours.

In the time it took you to take that 10-minute shower, another almost 20 people were dead of the virus. Then almost another four died during the two minutes you spent brushing your teeth before bed.

That day it took the virus 23 minutes to kill almost as many people as the wildfires throughout the western United States have all year, and about 30 minutes to kill about as many people as the gunman in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in United States history.

All the more than 276,000 Americans who have died of the virus since the pandemic began were loved ones. They included Aldo Murer of Illinois, who recently left behind his kids, grandkids and wife of 56 years.

Brittany Haupt, Murer's granddaughter, told Patch this week about the love her grandfather had for her grandmother, Joanne.

"My grandpa did everything for her, especially with COVID going on. He wouldn't let her leave the house. He did all the shopping ... they would go out now and then, but he did all of it," Haupt said. "His last words to her in person were 'don't leave me, I love you.'"

Haupt said her grandfather's death "is hard on all of us, but I know it's going to take a toll on my grandma not having him here anymore."

The Latest

Coronavirus deaths, cases and hospitalizations in the United States are at an all-time high, causing stress on the American health care system.

Hospital bed shortages have been reported in several states — Rhode Island, New Mexico and California, to name a few.

Hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are trying to lure nurses and doctors out of retirement, recruiting students and new graduates who have yet to earn their licenses and offering eye-popping salaries in a desperate bid to ease staffing shortages, according to a report from The Associated Press.

With the virus surging from coast to coast, the number of patients in the hospital with the virus has more than doubled over the past month to a record high of about 100,000, the AP reported, pushing medical centers and health care workers to the breaking point.

"Nurses are under immense pressure right now," Kendra McMillan, a senior policy adviser for the American Nurses Association, told the AP. "We've heard from nurses on the front lines who say they've never experienced the level of burnout we're seeing right now."

In El Paso, Texas, where the coronavirus outbreak has overwhelmed hospitals for weeks, health care workers are speaking out.

"I dread sometimes going in to work because I just know it might not be a good day," an intensive care nurse told KVIA-7. "It's even more frustrating when the community doesn't seem to support you, it feels like we're at battle, we're at war, and we're by ourselves."

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic in the United States topped 14 million Thursday. New daily cases rose above 200,000 for the first time ever on Wednesday.

And even more than a week after Thanksgiving, many Americans are still traveling.

A Hawaii couple are accused of boarding an airplane with their 4-year-old child, even though they knew they had already tested positive for the coronavirus. A Kauai, Hawaii, police spokeswoman said in a statement to NBC News the two people boarded a Hawaii-bound plane at San Francisco Airport "placing the passengers of the flight in danger of death."

As approval for a vaccine inches closer by the day, three former United States presidents — all of whom were re-elected to a second term — said that not only will they take an approved vaccine, but they will do it on camera to help persuade others who may be skeptical.

"I promise you that when it's been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it. I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science," former President Barack Obama said in an interview on SiriusXM's "The Joe Madison Show."

Statements from representatives for former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton said they both plan to do the same thing.

Newest Numbers

At least 2,753 new coronavirus deaths and more than 212,906 new cases were reported in the United States on Thursday, according to a Washington Post database. Over the past seven days, the United States has averaged more than 176,500 cases each day.

As of Friday, 44 states and Puerto Rico remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

More than 14.1 million people in the United States had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Friday morning, and more than 276,400 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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