Coronavirus: US Death Toll Tops 200,000

As the country reported more than 6.88 million confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, the death toll in the USA from coronavirus soared past 200,500.

Leading experts have warned that cases of COVID-19 could rise in the United States in the fall and winter, Xinhua reports.

According to the real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University, the United States has officially reported more than 6,894,586 confirmed COVID-19 cases within months of the pandemic.

Currently, due to research shortages, numerous unreported cases and other data problems, the real figures are assumed to be much higher.

Stanley Perlman, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, warned that the numbers of cases may surge in fall and winter. "But we hope that with appropriate measures and perhaps a vaccine, the surge will be less than we fear," he told Xinhua.

On January 21, the first COVID-19 case in the United States was confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC). Four months later, the U.S. death toll reached 100,000 on May 27.

When more learners return to college, U.S. campuses have recently become the latest front for battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The New York Times counted more than 88,000 incidents and 60 casualties at 1,190 campuses nationwide as of September 14.

In colleges and universities worldwide, the back-to-school season has brought new infections. COVID-19 cases will continue to increase in students and children, Perlman acknowledged.

Schools have made tighter prevention steps in order to slow the spread of the virus. There were serious repercussions for students who violated the rules.

At Purdue University, for attending an off-campus party and breaching the social-distancing rules of the institution, three dozen students were suspended.

"Large gatherings of students on the campus, in classrooms and restaurants, may make schools a hotbed for outbreaks. If strong protective measures are not in place, there will be high risks of local outbreaks," Zhang Zuofeng, a professor of epidemiology and associate dean for research with the school of public health at University of California, Los Angeles, told Xinhua.

To stop a feared scenario: influenza colliding with the COVID-19 pandemic, experts and health authorities have called on the public to get vaccinated against influenza in unprecedented numbers this fall.

Since influenza and COVID-19 symptoms are identical, experts are worried that hospitals and laboratories that screen for both respiratory diseases might be overwhelmed by flu-related diseases.

"This fall and winter could be one of the most complicated public health times we have, with the two coming at the same time," CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a recent interview on the JAMA network.

Arnold Monto, an epidemiology professor at the University of Michigan, told the media that H3N2, the most feared strain, may be the predominant flu strain this season.

More complications, hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among children, people 65 and older, and individuals with certain chronic conditions, are associated with it, he said.

In the battle against COVID-19, the country has been rising testing and speeding up studies on vaccines and therapies.

The CDC has revised recommendations for evaluating asymptomatic persons, stressing that coronavirus evaluating should be conducted on someone who has been in contact with an infected person.

Last week, Redfield said it would be the late second or third quarter of 2021 before the American public can usually have access to a COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Redfield, some time between November and December, vaccines will initially be available, but "very small supply and priority would have to be provided."