At least 100 deaths in the United States have now been linked to the coronavirus, according to a New York Times database that is tracking and mapping every known case in the country as more people are tested.
On Tuesday evening, West Virginia became the 50th state to report a case.
The 101 deaths, all announced in the last three weeks, came as the number of known coronavirus cases in the United States soared past 5,600 on Tuesday.
Hundreds of more people are learning they have the illness each day, including more than 800 diagnoses on both Monday and Tuesday, as the nation’s testing capacity has grown significantly and as the virus spreads.
About half the country’s reported deaths have been in Washington State, including at least 30 linked to a long-term care facility in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.
READ ALSO: U.S. To Turn Back Asylum Seekers, Illegal Immigrants Over Coronavirus
Residents of at least two more long-term care facilities in Washington, plus others in Kansas and South Carolina, have also died, underscoring the elevated risks for older adults and people with underlying health problems.
Most of those who have died from the virus have been in their 60s or older, and several have been in their 90s. But other patients who died have been younger, including a corrections worker in New York City in his 50s and a man from the Seattle area in his 40s.
Though Washington, New York and California account for about two-thirds of the country’s coronavirus deaths, 14 other states have reported at least one fatal case of the illness.
On Monday, officials in Texas reported their first death, a man in his 90s from Matagorda County whose coronavirus diagnosis was not confirmed until a day after he died.
By Tuesday afternoon, additional deaths had been announced in California, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, New York, Virginia and Washington.
Source: New York Time