An average of more than 2,000 Americans are once again dying from Covid every day, a grim threshold that the country has not seen in more than six months. 

According to Johns Hopkins University data, the seven-day average number of U.S. Covid death was 2,031 on Tuesday. Despite the fact that new infections are now at a standstill, the number of fatalities continues to increase, with the death rate increasing by 13% compared to one week ago, and 43% compared to the beginning of the month. On March 1, the U.S. average daily death rate was more than 2,000. The country was coming down off of a record-setting winter surge in cases and record-high fatalities that averaged 3,426 a day mid-January.

Covid-19 officially became the deadliest outbreak in recent American history on Monday, surpassing the estimated U.S. fatalities from the 1918 influenza pandemic.

The average daily death rate was also higher than 2,000 when the epidemic began in April 2020. However, testing limitations at that time meant that the first high of 2,245 deaths per day on April 24, 2019, could have been an underestimate.

Large states in the United States are reporting highest death rates, such as Florida with 376 and Texas with 283 deaths respectively over the last week. That’s about one third of the overall average.

Alabama, Florida, West Virginia, and West Virginia report the greatest number of daily deaths per capita.

This rise in daily deaths comes after the latest spike in infected people in the US. While there are some encouraging signs, it is still alarmingly high. Over the last week the U.S. has reported about 135,000 cases per day. While the trend is obscured by inconsistencies between states reporting on the Labor Day holiday, it is still down 18% from September 1.

Hospitalizations are also on the rise, although they are decreasing. According to data collected from the Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 91,500 Americans have been hospitalized for Covid in recent days. That number was close to 103,000 at the start of each month.

The death toll does not reflect any change in reported cases or hospitalizations for several weeks. This is because it takes time for the virus to spread and people can become sick.

Arturo Casadevall from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that “if the curve is going down and the cases are decreasing, then the deaths should also go down.” The treatment for Covid has also improved with more advanced therapies than what was available a year back, he said.

The spread of this highly contagious variant remains a problem in many states, despite encouraging trends in national trends.

The Ohio Department of Health warned Wednesday that many hospitals in the state are “at, or reaching, peak capacity,” with the increase driven largely by unvaccinated patients. The average daily case count is 6,771 per person, up 33% since the beginning of the month.

West Virginia and Alaska have also seen record-setting cases. Alaska’s average daily case count of 857 is an unprecedented pandemic record. Daily deaths, however, are roughly the same as they were on September 1, at about two each day. West Virginia’s 26 daily deaths as of Tuesday represent a 157% rise from the beginning of the month. However, West Virginia is not spared by an increase in the death rate.

However, experts in infectious diseases say that things could get worse if Covid vaccines weren’t developed. 

According to Dr. Bruce Farber of Northwell Health, New York, “If there were no vaccines, and people would have died from the effects of this delta,” “Hundreds, if not thousands, more people would have been killed. It is possible that it was in the millions. That’s the result we witnessed in countries with rapid spread of delta without proper vaccination.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 55% to 67% of all Americans have been fully immunized.