- It’s an exponential number of other people that are walking around with a small hole in their hearts.
- Each death causes a ripple of lasting pain.
- I try to be understanding, but I definitely have felt so many times that I’m not equipped to parent this person.
“There are an infinite number of other people walking around with a small hole in their heart,” one widow explained as reported by NBC.
Unthinkable scale
The U.S. on Wednesday surpassed 1 million Covid-19 deaths, according to data compiled by NBC News — a once-unthinkable scale of loss even for the country with the world’s highest recorded toll from the virus.
The number — equivalent to the population of San Jose, California, the 10th largest city in the U.S. — was reached at stunning speed: 27 months after the country confirmed its first case of the virus.
“Each of those people touched hundreds of other people,” said Diana Ordonez, whose husband, Juan Ordonez, died in April 2020 at age 40, five days before their daughter Mia’s fifth birthday.
“It’s an exponential number of other people that are walking around with a small hole in their heart.”
While deaths from Covid have slowed in recent weeks, about 360 people have still been dying every day.
“So far we have lost nobody to coronavirus.”
Death toll
Now, more than two years and 999,999 fatalities later, the U.S. death toll is the world’s highest total by a significant margin, figures show.
Dr Christopher Murray, who heads the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said although this milestone has been looming, “the fact that so many have died is still appalling.”
Each death causes a ripple of lasting pain.
When he wasn’t working, he loved to be with his family.
For their daughter, Mia, now 7, losing her dad has brought anxiety, overwhelming sadness, sleep trouble and lots of questions.
A shining example
Per capita, the U.S. ranks 18th worldwide in Covid deaths, while Peru has the highest number.
Still, many see the staggering death toll as evidence of America’s inadequate response to the crisis.
“We had the opportunity to be a shining example to the rest of the world about how to deal with the pandemic, and we didn’t do that,” said Nico Montero, a 17-year-old in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Montero made headlines earlier this year when he travelled to Philadelphia, where children ages 11 or older can be vaccinated without parental consent, to receive his shot at age 16.
Dr Robert Murphy, executive director of the Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said many expected the U.S. to better control the virus’s spread.
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Source: NBC
