(Reuters) – The United States reported a 22 percent drop in COVID-19 deaths last week, while vaccinations accelerated to a record 2.4 million photos a day, according to a Reuters analysis. state, county and CDC data.
As of Sunday, 21% of the US population has received at least one dose of vaccine, up from 18% a week ago. About 11% received two doses, up from 9%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The number of new COVID-19 cases reported each week fell for nine consecutive weeks, falling by 10% to just under 378,000 in the seven days ended March 14. COVID-19-related deaths fell below 10,000 last week, the lowest since mid-November.
However, health authorities have warned Americans not to be vigilant, pointing to a recurrence of infections in several European countries after easing social distancing measures.
“These should be warning signs for all of us. The cases (USA) went up last spring, went up again in the summer, will go up now if we don’t take precautions anymore “, said on Monday the CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
Air travel reached its highest level since the pandemic began on Friday, she said, as warmer weather caused many people to go on spring break.
Nineteen of the 50 states reported more new infections last week compared to the last seven days, up from 13 states in the previous week, according to Reuters analysis. New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island had the highest rates of new infections per 100,000 population.
The average number of COVID-19 patients in US hospitals fell 13% to 38,000, the lowest since the end of October, according to a Reuters report.
Graphic by Chris Canipe, written by Lisa Shumaker, edited by Tiffany Wu