Treating the coronavirus
Treating the coronavirusiStock

The COVID-19 death toll in the US topped 500,000 Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University data, though an NBC News count said the grim milestone had been reached on Sunday.

The lives lost are about equal to the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and greater than that of Miami.

The first known deaths from the virus in the US happened in early February 2020. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 dead. The toll hit 200,000 deaths in September and 300,000 in December, noted The Associated Press.

More than 138,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the US since January 1 alone, according to numbers provided by CBS News.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, reflected on the toll in an interview on "CBS This Morning" which aired on Monday.

"Back in the late winter and early spring of 2020 when we gave the modeling number of 240,000, people thought that we were being hyperbolic about that and somewhat alarmist, and clearly that was not the case," he said. "This is a horrible landmark that we've now reached."

On Sunday, Fauci told CNN that it's "possible" Americans will still need to wear masks in 2022 to protect against the coronavirus.