We crossed a threshold last Friday when more people were killed by the coronavirus in a single day than were killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, but we may look back on that record as quaint.
The United States set a new record of over 3,500 deaths yesterday and there's many more coming.
We also set a new record for daily infections and hospitalizations.
(Reuters) - U.S. coronavirus deaths soared to a daily record of 3,580 and hospitalizations rose for the 19th straight day on Wednesday, ramping up the stakes as regulators on Thursday considered whether to approve a second COVID-19 vaccine.
Another 232,255 cases were reported, the second highest daily case load on record, as California became the first state to report more than 50,000 cases in a single day, according to a Reuters tally.
While 232,555 is the second highest number of cases reported on a single day, it's actually a record. The previous high of over 260,00 infections included a backlog of cases.
In any case, the point is this is going to get worse. Over 3,000 deaths per day seemed like a lot, but is it possible that we'll break 4,000 at some point? That seems likely to me if we continue to infect over 200,000 or more people every single day.
Vaccines are being distributed, but for the next few weeks it will only be enough to protect health care workers and some of the elderly in care facilities.
This is how Trump goes out: with a trail of bodies behind him.