May 5 COVID update: COVID’s global death toll nears 15M; U.S. death toll hits 1M

Staff reports | Roughly 14.9 million people globally died due to either direct or indirect influence from COVID-19 between Jan. 1, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021, according to a new estimate from the World Health Organizations (WHO). The new estimate is nearly three times greater than official reports.

Meanwhile, the COVID pandemic has wracked the United States with a death toll that has reached what some have called an “unfathomable” benchmark — one million confirmed deaths — according to data compiled by NBC News. The milestone was reached about 27 months after the first confirmed case was reported in the country.

The U.S. death toll remains the world’s highest total by a significant margin, according to international figures. Brazil is first behind the U.S., with a much lower death toll of just over 660,000 confirmed deaths. However, the U.S. ranks 18th worldwide in deaths per capita. But many experts say the staggering death toll is evidence of an inadequate and untimely response to the pandemic.

Most deaths — more than 80% from April to December 2021, for instance — were in unvaccinated Americans, according to the CDC. As of February, the risk of death from COVID was 20 times higher for unvaccinated people than for those who were vaccinated and boosted, the CDC data showed.

Latest COVID-19 data

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) transitioned to weekly reporting of new COVID data last month. This week’s data is delayed due to testing of planned upgrades to the state’s data system, DHEC said in a statement. The most recent numbers were reported last Saturday and covered April 24-30.

State health officials on Saturday reported 3,044 total new cases of COVID-19 and eight total new deaths. As of May 2, 117 COVID-19-positive individuals are hospitalized, and five were on ventilators.

No positivity rate was reported by DHEC.