On February 29, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially confirmed the first COVID-19 death in the United States. And while it later became clear that the first death had occured weeks earlier, it still marks the official beginning of what would become the most severe health crisis the U.S. has seen in decades.
Thirteen months later, the official death toll has passed 550,000 and despite the U.S. vaccination campaign being well underway, thousands more will die before the country reaches herd immunity and stops the spread of the coronavirus. As the following chart illustrates, the number of daily deaths is currently trending downward, however, with the seven-day average reaching the lowest level since mid-October on Monday.
