Left Behind: A Year After First Death, 460,000 Families Mourn

ACROSS AMERICA — One year ago on Saturday, the United States recorded its first known coronavirus death.

Just 365 days later, more than 460,000 families will never see a loved one again.

That’s more than 1,260 mothers, brothers, children, and spouses we lost each day. One family each minute that had to say goodbye.

Patricia Dowd was the first.

At 57 years old, she was very active, her brother told CNN. Dowd developed flu-like symptoms but didn't qualify for a COVID-19 test because they were restricted and hard to come by at the time.

On Feb. 6, 2020, Dowd died suddenly after her heart ruptured.

Six weeks later, on March 24, 1,000 people were dead.

By April 11, 25,000 people had succumbed to the virus. Two weeks later, the number doubled.

By Dec. 14, more than 300,000 were dead. A month later, 400,000.

They included a California mother of six, who at 30 years old, died from complications after giving birth to her youngest son. A retired state trooper who was one of the first to arrive on the scene the day 26 people were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A Bradenton, Florida, police officer and his wife, who died just minutes apart. A married couple from Texas who left behind their 4-year-old son.

In November, a community pulled together to help Raiden Gonzalez, the young boy who lost his parents, celebrate his fifth birthday. His first without his parents.

Margie Bryant — Raiden’s great-aunt, whom he also calls Grandma — wanted to find a way to make sure he knew how much he was loved.

"I can't say it enough ... I know what the coronavirus has done to us, and I know the hurt that we feel, the void that it has left in our hearts, this little boy who doesn't have his mom and dad now," Bryant told CNN. "You hear about the deaths, but you don't ever really hear about the people left behind, and in this instance, it's a 4-year-old."

The Latest

In the hours leading up to the largest sporting event of the year, the National Football League has offered to turn its remaining 30 stadiums into mass vaccination sites, joining the seven already being used to administer the coronavirus vaccine.

In a letter to President Joe Biden obtained by The Associated Press, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said many of the stadiums should be able to get vaccination efforts moving quickly because of previous offers to use stadiums as virus testing centers and election sites.

The seven clubs already using their stadiums as vaccine sites are Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Carolina, Houston, Miami and New England.

The offer comes as United States coronavirus deaths topped 460,000 on Saturday and cases have surpassed 26.8 million. The number of cases reported each day is slowly declining following a post-holiday surge, including in one of the country’s most vulnerable populations.

Coronavirus cases have dropped at U.S. nursing homes and other long-term care facilities over the past few weeks, AP reported, offering a glimmer of hope that health officials attribute to the start of vaccinations, better prevention and other measures.

More than 153,000 residents of the country's nursing homes and assisted living centers have died of COVID-19, accounting for 36 percent of the U.S. pandemic death toll, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The overall trend for long-term care residents is improving, though, with fewer new cases recorded and fewer facilities reporting outbreaks. Coupled with better figures for the country overall, it's cause for optimism even if it's too early to declare victory.

• Coronavirus Cases Drop In U.S. Assisted Living, Nursing Homes

As daily cases decline, the overall rate of those receiving vaccinations in the United States is accelerating. The number of people who have received at least one shot is now higher than the total number of reported U.S. infections.

At least 36.8 million Americans have received one or both of the coronavirus vaccine doses, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, the Biden administration on Friday announced it plans to send 1,100 active-duty troops to five federal COVID-19 vaccination centers across the country, The New York Times reported, an effort to take better control of a chaotic and mostly state-led effort to administer the vaccines.

The sites, and the use of the military within them, would require the approval of state governments, not all of which are open to the idea.

Pandemic adviser Andy Slavitt on Friday said troops would arrive in California within 10 days, to begin operating around Feb. 15. Other assignments will be announced soon.

As talks continue on the next coronavirus economic relief bill in Congress, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday full employment could be restored by next year if Biden's $1.9 trillion package is passed.

“We face a huge economic challenge here and tremendous suffering in the country. We have got to address that," Yellen said, according to The Associated Press. "That's the biggest risk.”

Citing a report from the Congressional Budget Office, Yellen said the unemployment rate could remain elevated for years to come and it could take until 2025 to get unemployment back to 4 percent. The jobless rate stood at a half-century low of 3.9 percent a year ago before the pandemic hit.

But if Biden's relief package is approved, the country could get back to full employment sometime in 2022, Yellen said.

“There's absolutely no reason why we should suffer through a long, slow recovery,” Yellen said.
Also, a third vaccine could soon join the fight against coronavirus in the United States.

Johnson & Johnson on Thursday submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration seeking emergency authorization for its one-dose coronavirus vaccine, according to a New York Times report. This puts the company on track to potentially begin shipping it by early March.

The agency has scheduled a meeting with its outside advisory panel, which is to vote Feb. 26 on whether the FDA should authorize the vaccine, sources told The Times.

The AstraZeneca vaccine that has been approved for use in part of Europe, meanwhile, is being tweaked to help fight the more contagious variant that emerged in South Africa, according to a report from the AP.

Finally, since we brought up the Super Bowl, health experts are again warning against holding large gatherings and parties to root for your favorite team.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said that when it comes to Super Bowl parties during the pandemic, people should "just lay low and cool it," according to an Associated Press report.

He said during TV interviews Wednesday that now isn't the time to invite people over for watch parties, because of the possibility that they're infected with the coronavirus and could sicken others.

"You don't want parties with people that you haven't had much contact with," he told NBC's "Today" show. "You just don't know if they're infected; so as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it."

Fear abounds that the Super Bowl could lead to another surge in coronavirus cases two weeks from now.

“My sense is that it’s a really great year to watch it at home with your family, and not go to Super Bowl parties that you usually would, because we’re just starting to get this under control in this country,” Dr. Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington, told The New York Times.

Although attendance at the Super Bowl will be at a small capacity of Raymond James Stadium, there's still concern that the event itself could be a superspreader.

“Any time you get 25,000 people together yelling and screaming during a pandemic, you’re going to have transmission,” Bergstrom said.

Newest Numbers

As of Sunday morning, the United States had reported more than 26.9 million cases and more than 462,100 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

At least 3,031 deaths and 115,650 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States on Saturday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows that over the past week, new daily reported cases have fallen 19.7 percent, new daily deaths have fallen 7.3 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations have fallen 13.2 percent.

More than 59.3 million vaccine doses have been distributed and 39 million administered in the United States as of Sunday morning, according to the CDC. More than 30.2 million people have received one dose, and more than 8.3 million have received two.

Currently, 84,233 people are hospitalized with a coronavirus-related illness in the United States, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

As of Sunday, 32 states and U.S. territories 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.

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

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