U.S. coronavirus death toll surpasses 50,000

This handout illustration image obtained February 27, 2020 courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the coronavirus,COVID-19. less This handout illustration image obtained February 27, 2020 courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the ... more Photo: Handout, Centers For Disease Control And /AFP Via Getty Images Photo: Handout, Centers For Disease Control And /AFP Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close U.S. coronavirus death toll surpasses 50,000 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The coronavirus's U.S. death toll surged past 50,000 on Friday, marking another grim milestone in the pandemic that has upended life around the globe. Three months after the nation's first confirmed case, the highly contagious virus has killed at an alarming rate: Just 10 days ago, the number of recorded deaths stood at 25,000.

Experts have warned that the number of reported fatalities likely underestimates the true toll of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Amid a national debate over how to count the dead, methods have varied widely from state to state. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially included only those who tested positive for the virus, even with strict limitations on testing.

The Washington Post has been analyzing data from state health agencies to track every known death in the country. Of the 50,024 confirmed fatalities, the majority - 21,283 - have been in New York. But while the state has started to see a decrease in its confirmed daily death counts, other parts of the country are beginning to see a surge.

Even as governors in multiple states eased stay-at-home orders and took other steps to restart their stymied economies, the disease's rapid spread in both urban and rural areas had led to more than 28,000 deaths outside the epicenter of New York. The second-highest death toll is carried by New Jersey, followed by Michigan, Massachusetts and Illinois.

Every state has recorded fatalities, with clusters of cases appearing in nursing homes, correctional facilities and other settings flung across the nation.

The novel coronavirus emerged in late December as a scattering of mysterious illnesses in Wuhan, China. It soon traveled the globe, triggering school closures, lockdowns and unprecedented economic disruption. Worldwide as of Friday, more than 2.7 million people had been sickened with the virus and more than 193,000 had died, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University.

In the U.S., the first fatalities were believed to have occurred in late February in Kirkland, Washington, a Seattle suburb that became the nation's early hot spot. But this week, California health officials said that at least two people who died in early and mid-February were discovered to have contracted the coronavirus - a revelation that suggests it may have spread undetected weeks earlier than once thought.