ATLANTA (AP) – The daily average of new coronavirus cases in the United States has dropped to less than 100,000 in the past few days for the first time in months, but experts warned on Sunday that infections remain high and precautions to delay the pandemic should remain. on site.
The seven-day continuous average of new infections was well over 200,000 during much of December and was around 250,000 in January, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University, when the pandemic came roaring after being controlled in some places during the summer.
That average dropped to less than 100,000 on Friday for the first time since November 4. It remained below 100,000 on Saturday.
“We are still in about 100,000 cases a day. We are still at about 1,500 to 3,500 deaths per day. The cases are more than two and a half times higher than we saw in the summer, ”said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on NBC’s“ Meet the Press ”program. “It is encouraging to see these trends falling, but they are coming from an extraordinarily high place.”
On Saturday, the seven-day moving average for deaths was around 2,500. That number peaked at more than 3,300 in the early winter, according to Johns Hopkins.
The U.S. saw an increase of more than 5,400 deaths reported on Friday – almost half of Ohio, where officials said earlier in the week that they planned to add deaths to the state count over a few days after discovering up to 4,000 unreported COVIDs – 19 fatalities.
Walensky added that new variants, including one first detected in the UK that appears to be more transmissible and has been reported in more than 30 states, are likely to lead to more cases and more deaths.
“All of this is really involved in that we can’t let our guard down,” she said. “We have to keep wearing masks. We have to continue with our current mitigation measures. And we have to keep getting vaccinated once the vaccine is available to us. “
The United States recorded more than 27.5 million virus cases and more than 484,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data.
With parents and political leaders eager for children across the country to return to school for personal learning, it is important that people continue to observe precautions, said Walensky.
“We all need to take responsibility for reducing the spread of the community, including wearing masks so that we can have our children and our society back,” she said.
The CDC released guidance on Friday outlining the mitigation strategies needed to reopen schools or keep them open.
Some teachers expressed concern about returning to classes without being vaccinated, but the guidelines do not say that this is necessary. Dr. Anthony Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week” program that it would be “great” if teachers were vaccinated, but that other measures set out in the 24-page document could lower the risk.
“In practice, when you balance the benefit of taking children back to school with the fact that the risks are being mitigated, if you follow the CDC recommendations and these new guidelines, I hope it will alleviate concerns on both sides” , he said.
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