The number of U.S. Covid-19 deaths recorded in 2021 has surpassed the toll in 2020, according to federal data and Johns Hopkins University, demonstrating the virus’s persistent menace. WSJ
The 2021 U.S. death toll caught some doctors by surprise. They had expected vaccinations and precautionary measures like social distancing and scaled-down public events to curb the spread of infections and minimize severe cases. But lower-than-expected immunization rates as well as fatigue with precautionary measures like masks allowed the highly contagious Delta variant to spread, largely among the unvaccinated, epidemiologists say.
A doctor checked on a Covid-19 patient in Tarzana, Calif., in September. Experts blame the continued spread of Covid on the Delta variant and low vaccination rates in some communities.Among missteps, Dr. Karan said, public-health officials failed to effectively communicate that the purpose of vaccines is to protect against severe cases of Covid-19 rather than to prevent the spread of infection entirely, which may have led some to doubt the effectiveness of the shots.
He fell ill in August with what seemed like a sinus infection, his wife, Lena Rodriguez, said. When he died after weeks of intubation, some of his friends who had harbored doubts about the severity of the pandemic and the importance of vaccines changed their minds about the risks of Covid-19 and began to take a more cautious approach to the disease, she said.The Journal calculated when the number of known Covid-19 deaths in 2021 surpassed 2020’s figure by using Johns Hopkins and CDC data.
Comparing the two pandemic years is imperfect because the first coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. weren’t recorded until February 2020, while 2021 began in the grips of a wintertime surge. During just one week in January, the U.S. recorded a peak of nearly 26,000 Covid-19 deaths, CDC data show.Dan Brouillette/Bloomberg News
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