Coronavirus has killed 500,000 Americans â more than both World Wars and Vietnam combined By North America correspondent Kathryn Diss in Washington DC Posted TueTuesday 23 updated TueTuesday 23 More than half a million Americans have died from COVID-19. ( Share Print text only Cancel It's difficult to fathom the milestone America has just reached. This time last year America hadn't recorded a single death from the coronavirus. Twelve months on, half a million of its citizens have succumbed to the virus that then-president Donald Trump promised on national television would simply "disappear". Grasping the enormity â half a million people gone â is difficult to visualise.