US virus death toll tops 400,000 in Trump’s final hours
FILE - In this May 9, 2020, file photo, the Rev. Fabian Arias performs an in-home service beside the remains of Raul Luis Lopez who died from COVID-19 the previous month in the Corona neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this May 11, 2020, file photo, Leonardo Cabana cries over the casket of his father Hector Cabana who died of COVID-19 before the a funeral home service given by Father Fabian Arias in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this July 21, 2020, file photo, pall bearers carry a casket with the body of Lydia Nunez, who died from COVID-19, after a funeral service at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump, whose handling of the crisis has been judged by public health experts to be a singular failure. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2020, Artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg walks among thousands of white flags planted in remembrance of Americans who have died of COVID-19 near Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2020, file photo, Dr. Thuan Ong, center, reaches out to UW Medicine Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tim Dellit after Ong spoke with deep emotion about his patients before he received a COVID-19 vaccination at the hospital in Seattle. Ong’s medical team was the first to treat coronavirus patients at long-term care facilities in the area and he said he was thinking about his patients and those who died of the virus. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo, registered nurses Robin Gooding, left, and Johanna Ortiz treat a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Transporters Miguel Lopez, front, and Noe Meza wheel a gurney carrying a deceased COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
FILE - In this May 9, 2020, file photo, the Rev. Fabian Arias performs an in-home service beside the remains of Raul Luis Lopez who died from COVID-19 the previous month in the Corona neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this May 9, 2020, file photo, the Rev. Fabian Arias performs an in-home service beside the remains of Raul Luis Lopez who died from COVID-19 the previous month in the Corona neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this May 11, 2020, file photo, Leonardo Cabana cries over the casket of his father Hector Cabana who died of COVID-19 before the a funeral home service given by Father Fabian Arias in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this May 11, 2020, file photo, Leonardo Cabana cries over the casket of his father Hector Cabana who died of COVID-19 before the a funeral home service given by Father Fabian Arias in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this July 21, 2020, file photo, pall bearers carry a casket with the body of Lydia Nunez, who died from COVID-19, after a funeral service at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump, whose handling of the crisis has been judged by public health experts to be a singular failure. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
FILE - In this July 21, 2020, file photo, pall bearers carry a casket with the body of Lydia Nunez, who died from COVID-19, after a funeral service at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump, whose handling of the crisis has been judged by public health experts to be a singular failure. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2020, Artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg walks among thousands of white flags planted in remembrance of Americans who have died of COVID-19 near Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2020, Artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg walks among thousands of white flags planted in remembrance of Americans who have died of COVID-19 near Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2020, file photo, Dr. Thuan Ong, center, reaches out to UW Medicine Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tim Dellit after Ong spoke with deep emotion about his patients before he received a COVID-19 vaccination at the hospital in Seattle. Ong’s medical team was the first to treat coronavirus patients at long-term care facilities in the area and he said he was thinking about his patients and those who died of the virus. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2020, file photo, Dr. Thuan Ong, center, reaches out to UW Medicine Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tim Dellit after Ong spoke with deep emotion about his patients before he received a COVID-19 vaccination at the hospital in Seattle. Ong’s medical team was the first to treat coronavirus patients at long-term care facilities in the area and he said he was thinking about his patients and those who died of the virus. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo, registered nurses Robin Gooding, left, and Johanna Ortiz treat a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo, registered nurses Robin Gooding, left, and Johanna Ortiz treat a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Transporters Miguel Lopez, front, and Noe Meza wheel a gurney carrying a deceased COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Transporters Miguel Lopez, front, and Noe Meza wheel a gurney carrying a deceased COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 400,000 on Tuesday in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump, whose handling of the crisis has been judged by public health experts a singular failure.
The running total of lives lost, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is nearly equal to the number of Americans killed in World II. It is about the population of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Tampa, Florida; or New Orleans. It is equivalent to the sea of humanity that was at Woodstock in 1969.
It is just short of the estimated 409,000 Americans who died in 2019 of strokes, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, flu and pneumonia combined.
And the virus isn’t finished with the U.S. by any means, even with the arrival of the vaccines that could finally vanquish the outbreak: A widely cited model by the University of Washington projects the death toll will reach nearly 567,000 by May 1.
While the Trump administration has been credited with Operation Warp Speed, the crash program to develop and distribute coronavirus vaccines, Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat, mocked masks, railed against lockdowns, promoted unproven and unsafe treatments, undercut scientific experts and expressed scant compassion for the victims.
Even his own bout with COVID-19 seemed to leave him unchanged.
The White House defended the administration.
“We grieve every single life lost to this pandemic, and thanks to the president’s leadership, Operation Warp Speed has led to the development of multiple safe and effective vaccines in record time, something many said would never happen,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.
President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Wednesday.
The nation reached the 400,000 milestone in just under a year. The first known deaths from the virus in the U.S. were in early February 2020, both of them in Santa Clara County, California.
While the count is based on figures supplied by government agencies around the world, the real death toll is believed to be significantly higher, in part because of inadequate testing and cases inaccurately attributed to other causes early on.
It took four months to reach the first 100,000 dead. It took just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000.