(Bloomberg) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now predicts the U.S. will see 400,000 coronavirus deaths by Jan. 20, when President Donald Trump is to leave office.
The country surpassed 100,000 deaths in May, and 200,000 four months later. It passed 300,000 in three months, and 400,000 looks set to take just one month, the CDC determined using a collection of mathematical models. The U.S. has one of the highest mortality ratios of nations hit hardest by the virus, behind only Italy, Spain and the U.K., scaled for population.
The predicted pace would mean an additional 65,000 deaths in coming weeks. The numbers are a reminder of the increasing speed with which the virus claims lives in the U.S., underscoring the urgency of vaccine distribution efforts.
President-elect Joe Biden was expected Tuesday to fault the Trump administration for the slow rollout of vaccines, which stands at over 2 million doses given, a fraction of the 20 million promised by year-end.
Weekly deaths are predicted to rise through Jan. 16, even though national case numbers have been falling for two weeks amid patchy holiday reporting. Only Washington state reported a seven-day average in cases that was substantially higher than it was a week ago, according to Covid Tracking Project data.
Nationally, the U.S. posted 162,190 new Covid-19 cases Monday, Covid Tracking Project data show. There have been at least 335,051 deaths attributed to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
According to Covid Tracking Project data:
