Four months after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the U.S., the nation’s coronavirus death toll has surpassed 100,000, hitting 100,047 as of 6 PM eastern on May 27, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That’s the most confirmed deaths of any country in the world. It’s equivalent to the entire population of mid-sized cities like Albany, N.Y. or Boca Raton, Fla. It’s more American lives than were lost to the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks combined. It’s also on the low end of projected death estimates. In April, for example, White House officials warned that between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die from COVID-19, even with preventive measures like social distancing. Independent researchers have often produced even higher estimates. A Harvard health policy expert told NPR on May 26 that the U.S. could see an additional 100,000 COVID-19 deaths this summer a