New York, May 11 (RHC)-- The number of people who’ve died from COVID-19 across the United States has passed one million since the first case was reported in Washington state just over two years ago. 

According to a count by NBC News, the record was hit over the past several days.  NBC became the first major U.S. media outlet to report the gruesome milestone. 

By all accounts, the true toll is higher — nearly one million 300 thousand deaths, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which reports the U.S. likely surpassed the 1 million mark last December. 

While COVID-19 deaths have slowed in recent weeks, cases are rising in all but four states, and about 360 people continue to die of the disease every day.