US COVID-19 deaths top 1,900 a day

Washington DC: COVID-19 deaths in the US have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group -- 71 million unvaccinated Americans.

The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospitals, complicated the start of the school year, delayed the return to offices and demoralized health care workers.

It is devastating," said Dr. Dena Hubbard, a pediatrician in the Kansas City, Missouri, area who has cared for babies delivered prematurely by cesarean section in a last-ditch effort to save their mothers, some of whom died. For health workers, the deaths, combined with misinformation and disbelief about the virus, have been "heart-wrenching, soul-crushing."

Twenty-two people died in one week alone at CoxHealth hospitals in the Springfield-Branson area, a level almost as high as that of all of Chicago. West Virginia has had more deaths in the first three weeks of September 340 than in the previous three months combined. Georgia is averaging 125 dead per day, more than California or other more populous states.

I've got to tell you, a guy has got to wonder if we are ever going to see the end of it or not, said Collin Follis, who is the coroner in Missouri's Madison County and works at a funeral home.

The nation was stunned back in December when it was witnessing 3,000 deaths a day. But that was when almost no one was vaccinated.

Now, nearly 64 per cent of the US population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

And yet, average deaths per day have climbed 40 per cent over the past two weeks, from 1,387 to 1,947, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Health experts say the vast majority of the hospitalised and dead have been unvaccinated. While some vaccinated people have suffered breakthrough infections, those tend to be mild.

The number of vaccine-eligible Americans who are yet to get a shot put at over 70 million.

There is a very real risk you'll end up in the hospital or even in the obituary pages, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, chief medical officer for the Ohio Department of Health, said to the unvaccinated. Don't become a statistic when there is a simple, safe and effective alternative to go out today and get vaccinated.

Many low-vaccination communities also have high rates of conditions like obesity and diabetes, said Dr. William Moss of Johns Hopkins. And that combination along with the more contagious delta variant has proved lethal.