The US death toll from the

coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, a figure unimaginable eight months ago when

the scourge first reached the world’s richest nation with its state-of-the-art

laboratories, top-flight scientists and stockpiles of medicines and emergency

supplies.

The bleak milestone, by far the highest confirmed death toll

from the virus in the world, was reported by Johns Hopkins, based on figures

supplied by state health authorities. But the real toll is thought to be much

higher, in part because many COVID-19 deaths were probably ascribed to other

causes, especially early on, before widespread testing.

The number of dead in the

US is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days. It is roughly equal to

the population of Salt Lake City or Huntsville, Alabama.

And it is still climbing. Deaths are running at close to 770 a

day on average, and a widely cited model from the University of Washington

predicts the US toll will double to 400,000 by the end of the year as schools

and colleges reopen and cold weather sets in. A vaccine is unlikely to become

widely available until 2021.

“The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering, in some

respects stunning,” Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease

expert, said on CNN.