Fact Check: Kamala Harris Said 220M People in US Died of COVID-19?

Claim:

U.S. Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris said 220 million people in the United States died of COVID-19.

Rating:

Correct Attribution ( About this rating? )

Context:

Harris misspoke, saying "million" instead of "thousand."

As Kamala Harris' presidential campaign gathered momentum in August 2024, a video of the U.S. vice president in which she purportedly claimed 220 million people in the U.S. had died from COVID-19 began to circulate on TikTok :

This footage also appeared on X and on Instagram , and readers brought it to our attention. The video first appeared on Facebook during the 2020 presidential campaign, in which Harris was President Joe Biden's running mate. People pointed out that Harris could not count, as the U.S. population at the time was about 330 million, which would have meant that two-thirds of the country's inhabitants would have died.

We found the source of the video on C-SPAN . It was a recording of a campaign event Harris held in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Oct. 21, 2020, about two weeks before the 2020 election. Here it is, in its entirety:

Twenty five minutes and 37 seconds into the video, Harris detailed the public health crisis the U.S. was facing at the time from the COVID-19 pandemic. Her full quote read (emphasis ours):

We're looking at over 220 million people who just over the last several months, died. You know, it breaks your heart. Many people who without their loved ones, because of the nature of the virus, without somebody to be there with them in the hospital and hold their hand, in their last days on Earth, were by themselves. We're looking at over 8 million people in our country who have contracted the virus with untold long-term impact. We're looking at over 30 million people that because of the economic impact of this virus, have had to file for unemployment.

Snopes can therefore confirm that the video is authentic and that Harris did say the quote. Looking at the statistics compiled by Our World in Data , we were able to verify that global deaths due to COVID-19 had reached 1.2 million on Oct 21, 2020, including 350,093 deaths in North America:

Looking at cumulative deaths in Our World in Data solely for the U.S. , it became clear that Harris had said "million" instead of "thousand" — by the day she spoke, the number of deaths in the United States had just surpassed 220,000:

Sources:

'Cumulative Confirmed COVID-19 Cases and Deaths'. Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-deaths-and-cases-covid-19?country=~USA . Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.

'Cumulative Confirmed COVID-19 Deaths by World Region'. Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-covid-deaths-region . Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.

Senator Kamala Harris Campaigns in Charlotte, North Carolina | C-SPAN.Org. https://www.c-span.org/video/?477200-1/senator-kamala-harris-campaigns-charlotte-north-carolina . Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.