US death toll from coronavirus surges past 100,000 people

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, SUSAN HAIGH and LISA MARIE PANE Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The U.S. has surpassed a jarring milestone in the coronavirus pandemic: 100,000 deaths. That number Wednesday is the best estimate and most assuredly an undercount. But it represents the stark reality that more Americans have died from the virus than from the Vietnam and Korean wars combined. According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, the virus has infected more than 5.6 million people worldwide and killed over 350,000. The U.S. has the most infections and deaths by far. Early on, President Donald Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and predicted the country wouldn’t reach this death toll.