Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a news conference at the White House Jan. 21, 2021. Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Half a million people in the United States should not have died from the coronavirus pandemic in one of the world’s richest and most sophisticated countries, the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci said amid ceremonies marking half a million dead from the coronavirus pandemic.

In remarks to Reuters on Monday, Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the death toll of 500,000 “stunning” and said that “intense” political divisiveness contributed to the nation’s poor handling of the pandemic.

“This is the worst thing that’s happened to this country with regard to the health of the nation in over 100 years,” he said.Here are some significant developments:

  • Amid Monday’s solemn ceremony commemorating 500,000 dead, there was also good news, vaccinations are up, deaths and new infections are down and the question of beating the pandemic is now more when than if.
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