Global Coronavirus Death Toll Reaches 6 Million as U.S. Approaches 1 Million

Many country leaders, including President Joe Biden, are charting a path forward with coronavirus.

The global death toll from COVID-19 reached 6 million on Monday as the pandemic enters its third year.

The milestone comes as coronavirus cases and deaths are on the decline, according to the World Health Organization. The U.S. continues to report the highest number of deaths, with its death toll approaching 1 million.

Leaders of many countries, including President Joe Biden, are charting a path forward with the coronavirus.

Biden last week said it is time to move “back to more normal routines.” His administration released a plan to move forward with the coronavirus, emphasizing that “we are no longer going to let COVID-19 dictate how we live.”

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 90% of Americans live in areas where they don’t need to wear masks indoors.

But some do not believe the Biden administration is doing enough to protect against future waves of the coronavirus. A group of experts including former Biden advisers on Monday released their own plan arguing that ”more needs to be done before we can transition from an emergency with mitigation measures to the joys and carefree time of not having to worry about [COVID-19.]”

“While the situation in the country has been improving for several weeks, we are not at the next normal yet,” the authors wrote.

The group recommends several steps, including getting 85% of Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 and developing a plan to restore trust in the CDC.

The plan argued that the “pandemic and its restrictive measures should end when [COVID-19] death rates decline to those of a bad influenza season.”

“In the United States, a country with 330 million people, the transition to the next normal can occur when the National Center of Health Statistics measures the direct mortality from major respiratory illnesses to average 165 deaths per day and 1,150 per week. The death toll from [COVID-19] going into March 2022 is over 10 times higher,” the plan states.