Seven-day average of COVID deaths in the United States exceeds 1,000 again

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Doctors in Austin, Texas are transporting a man with symptoms of COVID. Photo: Getty Images

Over the weekend, the seven-day average of coronavirus deaths in the United States again exceeded 1,000, according to the New York Times pandemic tracker. The four-figure death toll passed Saturday and Sunday over the weekend marks the highest seven-day death average in the United States since March 30, when vaccinations were not yet widely available to most Americans.

While the death toll is significantly lower than the 3,300 Americans who died on average every day in January, the spike in deaths once again reveals how the Delta variant has changed the realities of the pandemic. The seven-day averages of deaths and hospitalizations have roughly quadrupled in the past six weeks, as the most contagious strain has spread rapidly across the country, especially in the southeast.

Following the fourth wave of COVID cases and tenures among many public and private employers, vaccinations increased dramatically in August, with 1 million doses administered each day for three consecutive days last week. Although vaccines significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, Delta has reduced the ability of injections to stop transmission of the virus. With a further increase in cases, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have cleared the booster shots for people who are immunocompromised, and general clearance for the boosters is expected to arrive next month.

With deaths lagging behind hospitalizations throughout the pandemic and hospitalizations still increasing precipitously, the death rate is expected to continue to rise in the United States, the country with the most confirmed COVID victims in the world. Alabama officials say they already run out of intensive care beds and five other southern states are over 90 percent full. After the 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, one of last summer’s most notorious super-spreading events, COVID surge cases and hospitalizations are on the rise again in North Dakota.

In the Delta Wave, patients are also less likely to be vaccinated and are younger, as older and more vulnerable populations have largely met recommendations to receive the vaccine. Every patient regrets not getting the vaccine, Miami intensive care doctor David De La Zerda told The New York Times. I don’t have one who doesn’t. They look really sick, and they look really young. You can see someone talking to you now, and the next time you see them, they’re dead.

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