Headline Roundup • June 15th, 2021
U.S. Coronavirus-Related Death Count Reaches 600,000
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Tuesday, the total count of COVID-19 related deaths in the U.S. reached 600,000, the highest recorded death toll in the world, according to the New York Times. Data from Johns Hopkins University, however, shows that the COVID-19 death toll has been slowing for months — from an average of 3,000 daily deaths in January to an average of 360 as of Sunday — as 44% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and the White House pushes to vaccinate 70% of all Americans by July 4. On Monday, President Joe Biden urged Americans to get vaccinated as the country approached the "sad milestone" of 600,000 COVID-related deaths. This comes as many states, including New York and California, relax their pandemic safety measures this month.
The story received wide coverage from across the political spectrum. Coverage from some left-rated outlets tended to frame the 600,000 deaths as occuring "despite" the vaccine push in their headlines; some right-rated outlets highlighted the decline in weekly death averages.
Featured Coverage of this Story
CNBC
The U.S. hit another grim milestone in the pandemic Tuesday, reaching more than 600,000 Covid fatalities as the nation races to administer at least one vaccine shot to 70% of adult Americans by the Fourth of July.
Deaths in the U.S. have been slowing for months, according to Johns Hopkins University data, due largely to an aggressive campaign to vaccinate the nation’s elderly and medically vulnerable people who are most at risk of dying from Covid. About 76% of Americans 65 and older, the group that accounted for a majority...
New York Times (News)
It is a number that once seemed unimaginable.
In the next few days, the United States will surpass 600,000 deaths from Covid-19, the highest known death toll in the world. The milestone approaches even though virus cases and deaths in this country have sharply fallen, vaccinations have been distributed widely, and many people have shed their masks and resumed prepandemic lives, including in New York and California, which both fully reopened on Tuesday.
Yet the coronavirus remains agonizingly present for those who knew the hundreds across the country still dying of it each day.
...
Fox News Digital
The U.S. recorded a grim milestone Tuesday with over 600,000 deaths attributed to coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. However, the news comes as weekly fatalities have declined to lows not seen since early on in the pandemic.
The latest data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate a seven-day moving average of about 330 deaths, figures not seen since March 2020. Health officials owe the dropoff in deaths to a significant proportion of the country’s vaccinated population; federal data suggests 54% of adults are...
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