Coronavirus deaths have increased 40 percent in one week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters Wednesday.
While Joe Biden said Donald Trump was responsible for U.S. coronavirus deaths in 2020, the death rate in the past week has increased 40 percent, or per the CDC’s moving seven-day average, 1,633 deaths per day.
An estimated 339,000 individuals have died from the Chinese coronavirus under Biden’s watch.
For perspective, the CDC estimated about 358,000 people died in 2019 from stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes combined.
Deaths are not the only metric increasing. Hospitalizations have also ticked up 33 percent, according to Walensky. Tuesday’s hospitalization numbers exceeded the greatest number since the pandemic began, 62 million.
The CDC contributed the rise in deaths to the omicron variant.
“The magnitude of this increase is largely related to the Omicron variant, which now represents about 90% of the COVID-19 cases in the country,” Reuter’s reported Walensky said.
Biden promised the nation in August he would lead the “democracies of the world” in “controlling this virus.”
“And the democracies of the world are looking to America to lead again — in two ways. First, to demonstrate we can control this virus at home,” Biden said.
In September, Biden said his top priority as president was “getting COVID under control.”
“That’s why I’ve made getting COVID under control my top priority from my first day as President,” Biden claimed.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.