US Surpasses 500K COVID-19 Deaths

The United States surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, almost a year after the first was reported. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S.s top infectious disease doctor, called the number "almost unbelievable."

"It's something that is stunning when you look at the numbers, almost unbelievable," Fauci said. "People will be talking about this decades and decades and decades from now."

While 88 days passed from the first death, Feb. 29, 2020, to 100,000, it will take just over a month for the toll to rise from 400,000 to half a million.

But fatalities have slowed dramatically: The U.S. reported 1,904 deaths Saturday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. The week's daily average is almost a 40% decrease from that of the previous week.

The issue now – which will determine how soon the next 100,000 Americans die – is often cast as a race between vaccines, now being rolled out in increasing volume and efficiency, and the mutant strains that are more transmissible and, in some cases, can elude the efficacy of the vaccines.