How the United States reached 1 million COVID deaths: What the data shows

04:46

May 11, 2022

Adam Almonte holds a photo of him with his older brother, Fernando Morales, on a bench where they used to sit and eat tuna sandwiches after playing catch in Fort Tryon Park in New York, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Morales died April 7, 2020 from COVID-19 at age 43. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Within the week, health officials predict the United States will reach 1 million deaths from COVID-19.

The global death toll is estimated to be 14.9 million people lost in the past 29 months. It's hard to grasp the scale of this loss.

J Emory Parker has been trying to make sense of it by looking closely at data about these deaths. Parker is a data project manager for our partners at STAT, the health and medicine publication.

This segment aired on May 11, 2022.