One Million COVID Deaths - a Grim Milestone for the U.S.

A little more than two years after the first reported COVID death in the U.S, the country has reached a previously unthinkable milestone: one million lives lost due to the coronavirus. The WHO reported this week that the worldwide number of people lost is close to 15 million. Though recording deaths from COVID is not an exact science, it’s understood that the count is largely underreported, and it’s likely that we reached one million deaths months ago. But regardless of what source you’re using, the fact remains that an unimaginable number of Americans are gone, from deaths that could have been prevented. For every life lost, nine close relatives are left to pick up the pieces. That means that at least nine million Americans are struggling to make sense of a world without their mother, father, sister, brother, caretaker, and more. And the death toll is disproportionate for more underserved communities like the elderly, low-income, and Black and Latino communities. Kristin Urquiza is one of them — her father Mark died in May of 2020. She founded the nonprofit Marked By Covid, a resource center for other people struggling with grief, as a way to codify “the unvarnished truth of our lived experience.”