When the United States closes 400,000 coronavirus deaths, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control said in mid-February, officials expect the death toll to be staggering.
“By mid-February, we expect half a million deaths in this country,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.
The sad news comes as Los Angeles fights one more contagious variant of the virus. California leads the world in coronavirus cases, with more 3 million infected residents.
UCLA epidemiologist Dr. Anne Rimoin told CBS News that she “surely” suspects there are more active variants in the population. She compared the search for the variants to “shining a flashlight in the dark,” adding, “You’ll see something if you start looking and we just haven’t been looking.”
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But across the country, the chaotic deployment of the vaccine continues, causing more than a few worn-out nerves in Florida.
“You can’t get an appointment, you can’t buy an appointment. So what are we going to do?” said Elizabeth Johnson, a Palm Beach resident.
The Florida Department of Health has said more than 40,000 have already missed their second dose as the country gets worse.
The darkest weeks have already arrived in Southern California. The data show a dramatic increase in deaths from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, where one person now dies every six minutes.
The coroner has one accumulation of bodies, so much so that LA County has just facilitated air quality standards to allow for more cremations.
And yet, no matter how bad things may seem, there is at least one uplifting update.
CBS News met Dennis Zayas and his wife Jessica just before Christmas, after the diagnosis of COVID-19 resulted in a double lung transplant. He told CBS News that his recovery was a daily struggle and that he almost had to learn to walk again.
Now, he not only walks, but works and, over the weekend, received his first dose Modern vaccine.
CBS News confirmed Monday that President Trump will lift travel restrictions on Europe and Brazil, where the virus is on the rise, before stepping down. Restrictions would be lifted on Jan. 26, but President-elect Biden’s team said Monday later it would block the changes.