The United States hit a grim milestone on Wednesday, a million COVID-19 deaths after just 27 months of the health crisis, a previously unthinkable number that could grow even larger.

The death toll in the country is equivalent to the population of San Jose, California, which is the 10th largest city in the nation. One resident, Diana Ordonez, said that each of the deceased touched the hearts of hundreds of other people. She is the wife of Juan Ordonez, a man who died in April 2020 at only 40 years old due to the coronavirus.

COVID-19 Death Toll Peaks 1 Million

While the number of people dying from the virus has decreased in recent weeks, roughly 360 deaths have been recorded every day. The death toll is far higher than what many people imagined the U.S. could experience during the early days of the pandemic. This is particularly true because former President Donald Trump downplayed the severity of the health crisis.

In a statement on Feb. 28, 2020, during a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, then-President Trump said that the pandemic was the "new hoax." A day after that event, health officials in Washington made the inevitable announcement, the first death from COVID-19, as per NBC News.

The grim record comes after two years since the first case was reported in the United States and is the world's highest total by a significant margin. The second is Brazil, which has recorded only 660,000 confirmed deaths related to COVID-19.

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The head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Dr. Christopher Murray, said that while the milestone was expected, the fact that so many people have died was "appalling."

According to CNBC, Murray said that the coronavirus pandemic and its haunting of the United States and the world was "far from over." Every single death causes a ripple of lasting pain, as could be seen in Ordonez's case. Her husband worked in information security management and was just promoted before his death.

Coronavirus Pandemic in the U.S.

Her daughter, Mia, who is now seven years old, developed anxiety with the loss of her father due to overwhelming sadness, sleep trouble, and lots of questions. The 35-year-old mother from Waldwick, New Jersey was not always able to answer her child's questions.

At one point during the coronavirus pandemic, the infection took the lives of 816 people in New York City alone in April 2020. Fernando Morales, 43 years old, was one of the victims, whose brother Adam Almonte, remembers his memory by playing the guitar Morales left behind.

The COVID-19 crisis has left roughly 194,000 children in the United States without one or both of their parents. The health crisis has deprived communities of their leaders, teachers, and caregivers. It has also robbed the world of expertise, persistence, humor, and devotion.

Neil Lawyer, 84 years old, was a short-term patient at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home outside Seattle. He was recovering after hospitalization for an infection as the establishment was later filled with frequent coughing, causing the facility to be placed in lockdown by that week's end, the Associated Press reported.

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