US State Senator Ben Chafin dies after contracting coronavirus

US State Senator Ben Chafin (R-Virginia) has died after contracting the coronavirus.

Chafin,60, died from complications of COVID-19 at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center on Friday.

Chafin represented southwest Virginia and was from Russell County.

The Republican lawmaker was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2013 and then moved to the state Senate in 2014.

“I knew Ben as a lawmaker, an attorney, a banker, and a farmer raising beef cattle in Moccasin Valley, working the land just as generations of his family had done before him,” Governor of Virginian, Ralph Northam said.

“This is sad news to begin a new year with the loss of a kind and gracious man. May we all recommit to taking extra steps to care for one another," he said, adding, Chafin loved serving people.

“He served to ensure that his region and community, and the people he loved, would never be forgotten,” Senate Republicans said in a statement. Chafin is the first Virginia lawmaker to die from the virus.

Meanwhile, US officials seek to speed up vaccinations as a more infectious variant surfaces in Colorado, California and Florida.

Since Thanksgiving there has been a spike in number of daily COVID-19 fatalities in the United States with 78,000 lives lost in December and a total of 345,000, or one out of every 950 US residents, dead since the virus first emerged in China late in 2019.

US coronavirus cases crossed the 20 million mark on Friday.

US surpasses 20 million COVID-19 cases on first day of 2021

The number of confirmed US coronavirus cases has surpassed 20 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

In order to slow the death toll, Senator Mitt Romney on Friday called for the enlistment  of veterinarians and military medics to take part in coronavirus vaccinations.

The second half of 2020 showed an increase in the rate of new COVID-19 infections in the US.

Reuters data showed it took 200 days to reach the first 5 million cases, 93 days to go from 5 million cases to 10 million, 31 days from 10 million to 15 million cases and only 25 days to go from 15 million to 20 million cases.

The state of California has the most total cases of any state, with about 2.28 million infections followed by Texas with 1.76 million cases and then Florida with 1.32 million cases.

There have been an average of 186,000 cases a day, down from a peak in mid-December of over 218,000 new infections each day. US health officials have warned that cases will likely spike again after Christmas and New Year holidays.

There are more than 125,000 COVID-19 patients in US hospitals presently, up 25% in the last month.

The United States has approved two vaccines; however, the rollout of vaccines is going slower than the government hoped. Only 2.8 million of a 20 million target had received a COVID-19 vaccine by December 31.The US government's aimed to vaccinate 100 million Americans by March 1.

Meanwhile, leading US infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that he expected Americans to achieve enough collective COVID-19 immunity through vaccinations by autumn 2021.

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