U.S. Surpasses 700,000 COVID-19 Deaths As Summer Surge Wanes

ACROSS AMERICA — The United States reached yet another pandemic milestone Friday when coronavirus-related deaths surpassed 700,000 just as a summer surge driven by the delta variant begins to ease.

It took just 3 ½ months for the United States to go from 600,000 to 700,000 deaths, a spike fueled largely by the millions of Americans who remain unvaccinated.

Despite the rising death toll, the number of daily cases is dropping.

Nationwide, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 has fallen to somewhere around 75,000 from over 93,000 in early September. New cases are at about 112,000 per day, The Associated Press reported.

This comes after new infections plateaued during the first half of September when daily cases averaged about 150,000, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.

Experts have credited more mask-wearing and more people getting vaccinated, The AP reported. The decrease could also mean the virus has run out of fuel in some places, meaning a majority of susceptible people have been infected.

Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has reported more than 43.6 million coronavirus cases.