The data from Johns Hopkins University shows more than 300,000 people have now died from the coronavirus in the United States. The milestone comes as the first Americans are receiving Pfizer’s newly authorized coronavirus vaccine, which the nation hopes will turn the tables in the fight against the virus. An intensive care unit nurse became the first person in the United States to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.
The vaccine’s authorization comes at a time of crisis. California, Texas and Florida have all reported more than 1 million cases each, and many states are warning that hospital capacity is running dangerously low. For the first time since the pandemic began, more than 3,000 deaths in a single day were reported last week — and the CDC has predicted that up to 362,000 people could die by January 2.
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned Sunday that coronavirus infections will likely peak in January, due in part to Americans ignoring warnings from health officials and traveling during the holiday season.
“The pressure is going to be on the health care system, and we need to keep the health care system from getting maxed out,” Gottlieb said in an interview with “Face the Nation.” “They’re not going to see peak-burden on hospital resources probably until mid-January, late January.”
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