US COVID-19 death toll surpasses 90,000

May 19, 2020May 19, 2020 The Big Kahuna

iStock/kemalbas (NEW YORK) — The United States remained the hardest-hit country in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with its death toll on Monday surpassing 90,000.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the nation has suffered at least 90,193 deaths from the virus, which has sickened over 1.5 million people.

Globally, the death toll stands at more than 317,000, with over 4.7 million confirmed cases worldwide.

President Donald Trump, who projected the nation would suffer 60,000 deaths revised his estimate earlier this month, saying the numbers could be as high as 100,000.

Also in the U.S., a commission in charge of monitoring the $500 billion in COVID-19 relief funding, which is part of the CARES act, has reported Monday that only $37.5 billion has been disbursed. The commission also found that a large portion of that amount was used to purchase corporate debt — a move that largely benefits big companies.

The Congressional Oversight Commission also found of that $500 billion, $29 billion was set aside for airlines while $17 billion was made available for businesses “critical to maintaining national security.”

The commission was created by the $2 trillion CARES Act and has been tasked to issue a report every 30 days