The first reported coronavirus death appeared in Wuhan, China in early January. As thousands of new cases were reported in China, officials closed down the city of 11 million people. The U.S. followed with a travel ban of any foreigners who had come from China. But it was too late. A man in Seattle was reported to be the first to die from COVID-19 in the U.S. on February 29. By May 27, four months after China’s first confirmed case of a COVID-19 death, more than 100,000 deaths in the U.S. were reportedly from the virus. This week, the official number of deaths from the virus is set to reach 200,000. It is possible that the real number could be higher. Ronald Fricker is a professor of statistics at Virginia Tech University. He wrote in The Conversation that “the number of deaths in the United States through July 2020 is 8 percent to 12 percent higher than it would have been if the coronavirus pandemic had never happened.” Through the end of July, Fricker said the U.S. has already seen more than 200,000 extra deaths. He added, “Regardless of the reason, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in substantially more deaths than would have otherwise occurred…and it is not over yet.”