US surpasses grim milestone with 600,000 lives lost to COVID-19

It was just over a year ago, late last May, that the country recorded 100,000 confirmed virus-related deaths.

The number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 has now eclipsed 600,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, 15 months since the onset of the pandemic. The milestone is a sobering reminder that hundreds of Americans are still dying each day even as the nation begins to enter its "new normal." It was just over a year ago when the country recorded 100,000 confirmed virus-related deaths. “A year ago, we were already stunned by the sheer loss of life at the 100,000 milestone and now we recognize that the impact was far greater than we could have imagined,” said Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor.