NationofChange
‘Weâve let the worst happen’: Reflecting on 400,000 dead
Eight months later, with 300,000 additional American lives lost and the chaotic distribution of the vaccine underway, Caroline Chen, health care reporter, shares her thoughts on where we are and what happens next.
In May of last year, ProPublica health care reporter Caroline Chen reflected on the first 100,000 lives lost to COVID-19 and posed an important question: âHow do we stop the next 100,000?â Eight months later, with 300,000 additional American lives lost and the chaotic distribution of the vaccine underway, Chen shares her thoughts on where we are and what happens next.
The U.S. Response to COVID-19
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. This piece was originally published in The Weekly Dispatch, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country. Sign up for it here.
In May of last year, ProPublica health care reporter Caroline Chen reflected on the first 100,000 lives lost to COVID-19 and posed an important question: “How do we stop the next 100,000?” Eight months later, with 300,000 additional American lives lost and the chaotic distribution of the vaccine underway, Chen shares her thoughts on where we are and what happens next.
In your 100,000 lives lost piece, you wrote about questions we needed to ask at that moment: “How do we prevent the next 100,000 deaths from happening? How do we better protect our most vulnerable in the coming months? Even while we mourn, how can we take action, so we do not repeat this horror all over again?” It’s been almost eight months since then. What are the bigge
US passes 350,000 COVID deaths and sets single-day cases RECORD: America reaches another grim milestone as 299,087 test positive in 24 hours and California funeral homes run out of room - while CDC data suggests the true death toll is 470K
US has set another record for new COVID-19 cases with 299,087 people testing positive as of Saturday
Hospitalizations remained above six figures once again, with 123,639 patients currently being treated
Daily deaths have fallen below 3,000 in the last two days, with 2,398 fatalities reported
The health crisis has become especially dire in California where hospitals are over capacity and funeral homes have run out of space for the bodies piling up