Only two and a half weeks after President Trump declared a national emergency to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, the disease has killed more people in the United States than the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history.
On Tuesday morning, the death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. reached 3,170, surpassing the 3,100 people who died during a coordinated terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 hijackers used four planes to launch attacks on the country.
Many more first responders died as a result of related injuries in the years that followed the 9/11 attacks, and the events marked a sharp shift in the foreign policy of President George W. Bush, who went on to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has infected tens of thousands of Americans and filled hospitals in major cities. New York City has been ground zero for the disease in the U.S., and city morgues across the five boroughs are near capacity.
On Monday, the Mercy-class hospital ship USNS Comfort arrived in New York Harbor to help tend to the rising number of sick as thousands struggle to overcome the respiratory illness. The last time the ship docked in Manhattan was after 9/11.
The coronavirus has infected more than 160,000 people in the U.S., with close to 6,000 recovering from the illness, according to a disease tracker engineered by Johns Hopkins University.
