(Reuters) – The United States reported a 12% decline in new cases of COVID-19 last week, while vaccinations accelerated to a record 2.2 million vaccines per day, according to a Reuters analysis of data state, county and CDC.
New infections fell for eight consecutive weeks, with an average of 60,000 new cases per day in the week ending March 7. Deaths linked to COVID-19 fell 18% last week to 11,800, the lowest since late November and an average of 1,686 per day.
(Open tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR in an external browser to see state-by-state details.)
Despite the positive trends, health officials have warned that the country could see a resurgence of cases, as more infectious variants of the virus have been found in almost all states.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ leading infectious disease specialist, urged the country to maintain most of the pandemic restrictions in place until new cases drop to less than 10,000 a day.
Thirteen of the 50 states reported more new infections last week compared to the previous 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 residents.
As of Sunday, 18% of the US population has received at least one dose of a vaccine and 9% has received two doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The country administered an average of 2.2 million injections per day last week, compared with 1.6 million injections the previous week.
The average number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals dropped 16% to 44,000 last week, the lowest since late October, according to a Reuters count.
Cumulatively, more than 525,000 people died of the virus in the United States, or one in 621 residents.
Chris Canipe graphic, written by Lisa Shumaker, edited by Tiffany Wu