The Center for Disease Control (CDC) tweeted on Wednesday that Americans should remain vigilant due to the rise in COVID-19 infections, but the slight increase in new cases does not tell the whole story about the state of the pandemic.
The CDC shared a tweet reporting that the seven-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases in America was 3.5% on March 1 compared to the previous week. Almost all other data suggest that the pandemic continues to subside, but the organization did not release that information in any public communications on Wednesday.
The CDC said that “now is not the time to relax preventive measures”. The message came after Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced that his state would relax all restrictions on COVID-19.
Abbot received some criticism for the move. President Joe Biden described the governor’s actions as “Neanderthal thinking” on Wednesday, hours before the CDC’s tweet. But national data indicates that America’s vaccination campaign is working and the pandemic is starting to subside.
Cases of #COVID-19 are on the rise.
On March 1, the 7-day moving average for new cases is 66,010, an increase of 3.5% over the previous week. Now is not the time to relax preventive measures. Wear a tight-fitting mask. Stay 6 feet away. Avoid crowds. More: https://t.co/YT7LKi6sF2. pic.twitter.com/5fjf0h0G9e
– CDC (@CDCgov) March 3, 2021
The number of new cases has practically decreased in the past 10 days, according to CDC’s COVID-19 tracking data. There were 53,716 new cases on February 21, before an increase to 75,105 new cases on February 25. However, the numbers dropped again, to 54,276 new cases on March 2. more than 300,000 new cases in one day.
Although the positive cases have remained practically stable, the test numbers have shown a consistent upward trend. According to The COVID Tracking Project, the average of seven days for new tests on February 21 was almost 1.3 million. On March 2, the seven-day average was more than 1.5 million. The data suggest that the apparent increase in cases is the result of more prevalent tests, not an actual increase in infections.
The positivity rate of the tests has steadily declined from a peak of almost 14% in mid-January, according to data from Johns Hopkins. Although the rate of positivity in the United States declined briefly in late February, at the time the CDC says that cases have increased, the rate of positivity has started to fall again and is now close to 4%.
Other metrics paint the same positive picture. US COVID-19 deaths have steadily declined since mid-January, and continue to decline after a brief but slight jump in late February. On February 21, the seven-day average for new deaths was just over 1,900. On March 2, it was back to 1,846. This is below a peak on January 26, 3,302.
There was no such reduction or increase in hospitalizations at the end of February. There were just over 56,000 Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 on February 21. Now, there are about 46,000. Hospitalizations reached more than 132,000 on January 7. (RELATED: Jen Psaki responds to the suggestion that prioritizing teacher vaccination is ‘Anti-Equity, since most teachers are white’)
All of these trends coincide with more Americans being vaccinated. Nearly 53 million people have already received at least one dose of vaccine in the United States, according to The Washington Post.
More than 27 million Americans have received two doses, which means that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccination rates also continue to rise, with the United States approaching a rate of more than 2 million doses administered per day. (RELATED: COVID-19 started in China. Now they are using it to exercise global energy)