Will the U.S. hit 10,000 COVID deaths per day?

Tombstones.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

Three thousand. It's a number that needs context to be grasped: "more [deaths] than D-day or 9/11," or the equivalent of if "15 passenger jets full of COVID-19 patients crashed ... and killed everyone on board." This week, we marked two 3,000-plus days of recorded COVID-19 fatalities, with no reason to think we've yet reached the peak. In fact, the United States seems locked in a horrifying race to find out what its ceiling is. Four thousand per day? Five thousand per day?

Even 10,000 deaths in a single day doesn't seem entirely inconceivable anymore.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.