(Reuters) – The United States reported a 12 percent drop in new COVID-19 cases last week, while vaccinations accelerated to a record 2.2 million photos a day, according to a Reuters analysis. state, county and CDC data.
The new infections dropped for eight weeks in a row, averaging 60,000 new cases a day for the week ending March 7. COVID-19-related deaths fell 18% last week to 11,800, the lowest since the end of November and averaging 1,686 a day.
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Despite the positive trends, health officials have warned that the country could see a resurgence of cases, as several infectious variants of the virus have been found in almost every state.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, urged the nation to maintain most pandemic restrictions until new cases drop below 10,000 a day.
Thirteen of the 50 states reported more new infections last week, compared to the last seven days, down from 29 states 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.
As of Sunday, 18% of the US population had received at least one dose of vaccine and 9% had received two doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The country took an average of 2.2 million photos a day last week, up from 1.6 million photos in the previous week.
The average number of COVID-19 patients in US hospitals fell 16% to 44,000 last week, the lowest since the end of October, according to a Reuters report.
Cumulatively, more than 525,000 people have died from the virus in the United States, or one in 621 residents.
Graphic by Chris Canipe, written by Lisa Shumaker, edited by Tiffany Wu