COVID-19: United States Death Toll Passes 200,000

According to John Hopkins University data, more than 6.8 million people have been infected with COVID-19, and the death toll has passed 200,000 in the United States.

The data comes amid the increase of cases in the United States, specifically in some states, including North Dakota and Utah.

However, the university has been collecting the United States and global COVID-19 data since the outbreak began late last year in China. And on Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University reported the death toll to be 200,005.

President Donald Trump described the new death toll as a horrible thing, claiming China should have stopped the virus.

“Due to Donald Trump’s lies and incompetence in the past six months, [we] have seen one of the greatest losses of American life in history,” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Monday. “With this crisis, a real crisis, a crisis that required serious presidential leadership, he just wasn’t up to it. He froze. He failed to act. He panicked. And America has paid the worst price of any nation in the world.”

President Donald Trump, who has been repeatedly criticized for his handling of COVID-19, said he and his administration had done a phenomenal job and gave himself an excellent mark for handling the pandemic.

According to the data cited by the Associated Press news agency, North Dakota ranks first in the country for the number of cases per capita in the past two weeks.

North Dakota has seen a definite rise in COVID-19 cases in current weeks. Officials say there were more than 3,200 active coronavirus cases in the state, while 87 people are in hospital, as of Monday.

The cases are also rising in states, including Utah, Texas, and South Dakota.

There is growing concern that infections will continue to rise during the winter months. US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warned earlier this month that Americans should hunker down for autumn and winter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed the recently updated guidance on COVID-19’s airborne transmission.

In the removed guidance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said COVID-19 could spread via particles that remained in the air. The CDC said this was a draft version of proposed changes and had been posted in error.