US surpassed landmark 20 million COVID-19 cases on New Year’s Day

The United States surpassed 20 million total confirmed COVID-19 cases on New Year’s Day, starting 2021 off with a grim milestone, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

The country’s coronavirus case count reached 20 million cases on Friday – with the last 1 million cases coming in just five days and the last 3 million cases in slightly more than two weeks. 

The 20 million case mark comes as the US nears 350,000 COVID-19-related fatalities, about 19% of the world’s more than 1.8 million deaths. 

Friday’s bleak case milestone means the nation has also recorded by far the most Covid-19 infections anywhere.

It’s double what India – the country with the second-highest number of cases has reported and nearly triple what Brazil – the third country in line – has reported.

And if that’s not enough, according to projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, about another 115,000 could die over the next month.

More cases than any country

The US has recorded more cases than any country, almost double India’s total cases and nearly a quarter of the world’s more than 83 million confirmed cases. 

Dr. Nicole Van Groningen of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles told CNN that hospitals have hit a “breaking point.”

“We’re also worried that at some point soon we’re going to have a really tough time finding the space and the staff to take care of all the sick patients coming in with Covid-19 who really need our help.”

But the worst may not be over just yet: experts fear that in the coming weeks – following holiday travel and gatherings – the US could see another surge of cases that could also drive hospitalizations and deaths even higher.

director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN the US has seen a surge that has “just gotten… out of control.”

“Once you get to large numbers of people at a dinner inside, poor air ventilation and circulation, that’s when you get in trouble,” he said.

“That’s what we’re concerned about – that in addition to the surge, we’re going to have an increase superimposed upon that surge which could make January even worse than December.”

New Covid-19 strain

The news also comes a day after Florida became the third state to detect the UK COVID-variant in the US, local media reported, believed to be more contagious. The other states that found cases, Colorado and California, first identified their cases earlier this week. 

Vaccination efforts launched across the country last month after the Food and Drug Administration issued emergency authorization approvals for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

Health care workers, elderly people and other essential workers have been prioritized during the first weeks of vaccine distribution.

The US is also just weeks away from inaugurating President-elect Joe Biden, who has slammed the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and more recently the pace of the vaccination efforts, saying Biden’s administration plans to speed up the process.