(NEXSTAR) – The number of Americans who died from COVID-19 is now higher than the death toll of U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
By late Tuesday afternoon, Johns Hopkins data showed U.S. coronavirus deaths to be 58,343. The bloody conflict in Vietnam, which spanned two decades, killed 58,220 Americans, according to statistics from the National Archives.
Coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 1 million Tuesday, more than four times the number in Spain, the country with the second-most.
The dark milestone comes as some U.S. states prepare to lift shelter at home orders and reopen certain businesses.