COVID-19 has now killed more Americans than the Vietnam War

A grim milestone was reached on Tuesday evening, as the number of coronavirus deaths in the United States surpassed the number of Americans who were killed in the Vietnam War.

A tally kept by Johns Hopkins University shows the U.S. COVID-19 death toll is now at 58,365, with more than one million confirmed cases. The first known U.S. death from COVID-19 occurred on Feb. 6 in San Jose, California.

Over the course of nearly two decades, 58,220 Americans died while fighting in the Vietnam War. The deadliest year for the United States in Vietnam was 1968, when 16,899 troops were killed; the deadliest day was Jan. 31, with 246 Americans killed during the Tet Offensive.

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