Newly reported coronavirus cases in the United States continued to decline, along with hospitalizations, as more people in the country received the vaccines.
The US reported 40,340 new cases on Sunday, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Sunday’s number fell from 58,062 cases recorded the previous day.
The death toll in the country reached 525,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
Hospitalizations due to Covid-19 across the country totaled 40,212, the lowest level since October 20, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Sunday’s total fell almost 70% from January 6, when the number of hospitalizations peaked at 132,474. The number of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care units also fell, to 8,137, from 8,409 the previous day.
About 17.7% of the US population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccination levels vary by state. Almost a quarter of Alaskan residents received at least one dose and 15.6% are fully vaccinated. In Georgia, 13.4% of residents received at least a single dose and 8.5% completed vaccines.
Some large employers are getting permission from public health officials to administer vaccines, in the hope of accelerating the inoculation of their employees. Among them, pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. started giving doses to employees at its North Chicago headquarters, according to people familiar with the matter, giving priority to those over 65 and then to operations and manufacturing workers.
Abbott Laboratories has also started giving doses at its headquarters near skilled workers, such as those in manufacturing, food services and childcare, a spokeswoman said. Tyson Foods Inc. delivered servings to employees at its beef factory in Joslin, Illinois, and to some workers in Iowa, a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist reiterated warnings against lifting Covid-19 restrictions too early. “We are going in the right direction. We just need to take it a little longer, ”said Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical advisor on the pandemic, on Sunday on CBS’s“ Face the Nation ”program.
His comments came in the wake of announcements from the states of Texas and Mississippi that they were removing mandates from state masks and restrictions on business ability. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union”, said it was never a realistic goal to get rid of the virus completely and that the state focused on ensuring that the health care system was able to provide care. Of Quality.