Skip to main content
May 27, 2020 - Health

U.S. coronavirus death toll crosses 100,000

Felix Salmon
Data: Johns Hopkins University; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios
Data: Johns Hopkins University; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios

More than 100,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins — a terrible milestone that puts the death toll far beyond some of the most tragic events in U.S. history.

By the numbers: The death toll from COVID-19 now stands at more than 34 times the number of people who died on 9/11.

  • About 25,000 African Americans have died. That's more than three times the number of African American soldiers who were killed in Vietnam.
  • A majority of the deaths — about 56% — has been Americans over the age of 65. Still, more than 500 Americans under the age of 35 have died. That's 10 times the number of people who died at the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida.

New York has suffered the worst of the crisis, with nearly 30,000 deaths. It's followed by New Jersey, with just over 11,000. Washington state, which saw the first major outbreak in the U.S., has had just 1,100 deaths.

The bottom line: These are just the deaths we know of. Public health experts believe the actual toll could be higher — because there have likely been deaths that were never officially linked to the virus.

Go deeper