The US is Approaching a Covid Milestone

🇺🇸 President Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff yesterday in honor of the Americans who have died from Covid, as the overall US death toll nears 1 million.

• Flags will remain at half-staff at the White House and all federal buildings through sunset on Monday evening.
• CDC data officially showed the total number of Covid deaths at 996,376 as of yesterday evening, though some independent trackers had the US surpassing 1 million deaths earlier this month.
• Across the country, deaths are trending slightly upwards after falling consistently since early February; about 365 Americans died each day in the week ending Tuesday, up 7% from two weeks before but still a fraction of the recent peak seen a few months ago (~2,700/day).

🌏 The big picture: Covid is currently considered a global pandemic by the WHO, though most countries besides North Korea and China have started to ease restrictions. The US technically considers it to be a pandemic as well, but officials have signaled they're starting to treat the virus as an endemic disease.