COVID-19 has killed more than 664,500 people in the United States as of Wednesday, according to tracking data from Johns Hopkins University. Considering that the total population of the country is 331.4 million, that means that 1 in every 500 Americans has died .
In this way, the risk of dying from COVID-19 in the United States has now exceeded that of dying from a motorcycle or bicycle accident; as well as drowning, suffocation or fire.
Delta variant
The United States passed this tragic milestone when transmission of COVID-19 stimulated by the highly infectious Delta variant remained high in all states except California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The United States reports a 30% increase in average daily cases over the past month, while average daily deaths has nearly tripled.
Only 53% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 63% have received at least one dose. Unvaccinated people account for more than 9 out of 10 recent deaths .
Some events that have a probability less than 1 in 500, according to the National Safety Council, include:
- Being run over while crossing the street (1 in 543).
- Death by motorcycle accident (1 in 899).
- Drowning (1 in 1,128).
- Death by fire (1 in 1,547).
- Choking on food (1 in 2,535).
- Death by bicycle accident (1 in 3,825).
- Sunstroke (1 in 8,248).
- Death by accidental firing of a firearm (1 in 8,571).