In the fight against the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, the United States has hit another bleak milestone: Since the first documented infection, the virus has claimed the lives of one in every 500 Americans.

According to research from Johns Hopkins University, 663,913 individuals in the United States have died of Covid-19 as of late Tuesday night. According to the US Census Bureau, the population of the United States was 331.4 million in April 2020.

It’s a depressing figure that comes as hospitals in the United States struggle to keep up with the influx of patients and as the virus spreads to younger Americans. Officials are implementing regulations for vaccines in workplaces and masks in schools with the aim of controlling the spread and averting additional avoidable deaths.

They’re up against daily case, hospitalization, and mortality rates that spiked after the highly infectious Delta strain became prevalent in the early summer.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, the country averaged more than 152,300 new Covid-19 cases per day over the previous week, up more than 13 times from June 22, when the rate was at its lowest in 2021 with 11,303 daily cases.

The U.S. recorded 1,805 new Covid-19 fatalities per day during a week as of Tuesday, substantially higher than the year’s low average of 218 cases set on July 5.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with just 54% of the population completely vaccinated, the rate of individuals starting immunizations each day (more than 341,900) is down 4% from last week and 28% from a month ago.

Vaccinations have been praised as the best form of protection against Covid-19, with health professionals noting that the majority of persons hospitalized with and died by the virus are unvaccinated.