WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 400,000, providing a grim coda to Donald Trump’s presidency.
The milestone comes almost exactly a year after health officials diagnosed the nation’s first case of the virus, and months of efforts by Trump to downplay the threat and his administration’s responsibility to confront it.
The number of dead is greater than the population of New Orleans, Cleveland or Tampa, Florida.
The coronavirus has killed nearly as many Americans who are lost annually to strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, flu and pneumonia combined.
By week’s end, the toll is likely to surpass the number of Americans killed in World War II.
