The official number of people who have died from the coronavirus in the United States has passed the grim 90,000 benchmark, as states reopen their economies, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The United States, which has more than 1.5 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, accounts for over a third of the global virus death toll. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned U.S. senators last week that reopening the economy too soon could “trigger an outbreak” that could result in “some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to trying to get economic recovery.”
Russia rose to second in the world for the highest number of confirmed infections last week with at least 280,000 cases on record and 2,631 deaths. The true extent of the country’s outbreak is expected to be far greater, as reports reveal significant undercounting by officials who reportedly attributed over half of coronavirus deaths to “alternative causes.”