The number of COVID-19 deaths per day in the U.S. dropped to its lowest point in more than a year on Sunday, with the country recording 222 deaths.
The US saw the number of victims drop from 676 deaths recorded on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The data shows that the number of daily deaths has reached its lowest point since the pandemic began on March 23, 2020, when 192 deaths were documented.
The death toll on Sunday is a decrease from an average of seven days to fatalities by Saturday from 804 deaths per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That is less than 968 the week before.
The low total of deaths on Sunday may also reflect different reporting patterns from state and county COVID-19 statistics on the weekends, according to The New York Times. Johns Hopkins University data generally shows a drop in deaths on Saturdays and Sundays.
Only 222 COVID deaths reported in the U.S. yesterday, which is the lowest number since March 23, 2020. https://t.co/WbBcN2canq pic.twitter.com/FAyvg7tp4Z
– Nate Silver (@ NateSilver538) April 5, 2021
CDC director Rochelle Walenksy said the seven-day death toll has decreased compared to last week’s data during a meeting of the COVID-19 response team at the White House.
But she warned that the country was entering its fourth week of “rising trends and cases”, including data from the CDC that document an average of about 64,000 cases and 4,970 hospital admissions per day.
The news arrives while Walensky balances warning about the risks still present in the pandemic and expressing an incentive to advance the vaccination effort in recent days.
“As we watch the number of cases rise with concern, the good news is that millions of Americans are preparing to get vaccinated every day,” she said during Monday’s briefing.
Health officials celebrated on Monday that nearly a quarter of American adults, nearly 60 million, are fully vaccinated, with 40% of adults receiving at least one dose.
Last week, Walensky warned of “impending doom” as cases of COVID-19 increased if people did not follow healthcare.