{"id":48648,"date":"2021-02-22T07:58:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T07:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=736655"},"modified":"2021-02-22T07:58:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T07:58:40","slug":"us-approaches-coronavirus-death-toll-of-500000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/22\/us-approaches-coronavirus-death-toll-of-500000\/","title":{"rendered":"US approaches coronavirus death toll of 500,000"},"content":{"rendered":"
The US stands on the brink of a once-unthinkable tally: 500,000 people lost to the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost is 498,897 \u2013 roughly the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and just shy of the size of Atlanta.<\/p>\n
The figure compiled by Johns Hopkins University surpasses the number of people who died in 2019 of chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer\u2019s, flu and pneumonia combined.<\/p>\n
America\u2019s top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci told CNN<\/em>:<\/p>\n It\u2019s nothing like we have ever been through in the last 102 years, since the 1918 influenza pandemic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n