The grim toll – roughly equivalent to the population of the nation’s capital, Washington, DC – was reached late on Friday with an average of well over 1,000 people dying each day in a country where 55.7 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated, Aljazeera cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as reporting.
The state of Florida suffered by far the most death of any state during that period, with the virus killing about 17,000 residents since the middle of June. Texas was second with 13,000 deaths. The two states account for 15 percent of the country’s population, but more than 30 percent of the nation’s deaths since the nation crossed the 600,000 thresholds.
Coronavirus misinformation has been rampant and masking remains a political issue, dividing many in the country.
Some Republican governors, such as those in Texas and Florida, have sought to ban mandatory masking in their states, citing individual freedoms.
The Democratic-run state of California, on the other hand, announced on Friday that COVID-19 vaccinations will be compulsory for all students.
Nearly 5 million people worldwide have died since the outbreak was detected in China in December 2019, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
KI/PR
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