The United States coronavirus death toll passed the grim 70,000 benchmark on Tuesday afternoon, effectively doubling in less than three weeks, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The United States, which has more than 1,192,119 positive cases of the coronavirus, accounts for about a third of the global virus death toll. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation warned on Monday that the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. could reach 135,000 by early August, which is two times higher than its previous projection, due to the relaxation of social distancing guidelines in several states. “Growing contacts among people will promote transmission of the coronavirus,” the institute said in a statement.