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Data: Johns Hopkins University; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios

More than 600,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The big picture: It's a higher death toll than the number of American soldiers killed in combat during the Civil War, World War I and World War II combined.

  • It's also greater than the population of Baltimore or Milwaukee, and equal to the number of Americans who died of cancer in 2019, according to AP.
  • The number represents approximately 15% of the world's total coronavirus death toll, which stands at over 3.8 million.

The state of play: The latest grim milestone comes amid signs of optimism about the state of the outbreak in the U.S., where vaccines have helped drive down the seven-day average to about 14,000 new cases and less than 400 deaths per day.

  • Over 51% of Americans 12 and older are now fully vaccinated, and 61% have received at least one dose, according to CDC data.
  • It took nearly four months for the U.S. to go from 500,000 total deaths to 600,000, per JHU. By comparison, the country went from 400,000 to 500,000 deaths in a little over 30 days.

Yes, but: Vaccination rates have also slowed, even as the federal government and states have rolled out dozens of incentive programs to push 70% of American adults to be vaccinated by the Fourth of July.

What they're saying: "We have more work to do to beat this virus. And now is not the time to let our guard down," Biden said during a press conference at the NATO summit in Belgium, as he urged more people to get vaccinated "as soon as possible."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.