Coronavirus-related deaths in the United States reached a grim milestone on Wednesday, surpassing the figure of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.
More than 58,300 Americans have died from COVID-19, while according to the National Archives’ figure 58,220 U.S. soldiers lost their lives in the Vietnam War, which lasted more than a decade.
The coronavirus almost doubled the rate of killed soldiers during the deadliest year for U.S. troops in the Vietnam war in 1968 when 16,8999 soldiers were killed for every 100,000 U.S. residents.
The coronavirus has quickly surpassed the lethality of the nine-year conflict that was the most costly war for the U.S. since World War II.
Unfortunately, the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus outbreak could exceed 74,000 by August, according to the University of Washington's predictive model, often cited by White House officials and state public health authorities.
Late on Monday, the university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) model raised its projected U.S. death toll to 74,073 by Aug. 4, up from nearly 67,000 predicted a week ago, and 60,000 predicted two weeks ago.
IHME director Christopher Murray said the death toll would climb if states reopen their economies too early.
The New York’s Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi on Monday raised a question to President Donald Trump by comparing the losses in Vietnam war and COVID-19 pandemic: “If an American president loses more Americans over the course of six weeks than died in the entirety of the Vietnam war does he deserve to be reelected?”
As usual Trump has responded by attacking reporters and comparing the death toll to the “original projections.”
Despite the oppressing numbers Trump on Tuesday lauded states that had reopened during the pandemic. Several governors urged that precautions should be taken before allowing people to gather in public places such as shops and restaurants.
“Don’t overwhelm the hospital system,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said during a news conference Tuesday. “If you ever hit 70%, you can expect the number to go up for the next two weeks as people who just got infected actually get ill and some of them come into the hospital,” he added.
New York state has remained an epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak with 295,000 confirmed cases and more than 22,900 deaths. However, the number of deaths in New York has dropped in recent days, the state could extend it’s stay-at-home order that was expected to expire on May 15.
It seems like Trump prefers to avoid an appalling threat as he used social media on Tuesday to praise Texas’ Republican governor Greg Abbott, who announced that his state prepares to ease stay-at-home restrictions this week.
“Many States moving to SAFELY & QUICKLY reopen!” Trump tweeted Tuesday referring to his recent words that reopening of states is up to governors.
