US maintains high death rate due to COVID-19 despite lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccines
by Cassidy Morrison, Healthcare Reporter |
| December 31, 2021 07:00 AM
The United States has one of the world's highest rates of COVID deaths per million despite massive spending, several phases of lockdowns, mask mandates, and a moonshot initiative to develop vaccines.
Confirmed deaths per million in the U.S. have hit roughly 2,470 on Wednesday since March 2020, ranking 22nd in the world for highest death totals. By comparison, Australia, which has had aggressive lockdowns, tightly sealed borders, and a 91% vaccination rate among adults, has seen just 86 deaths per million.
Experts say numerous factors go into the bottom-line results of each country's COVID response, but most cite early efforts, vaccination rates, and buy-in for safety measures. The dismal effort in the U.S. got off to a terrible start, according to Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“The first 100,000 [deaths in the U.S.] were probably not stoppable," Adalja said. "And after that, I think there was clearly bungling."
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