(Reuters) – The United States reported a 25% drop in new cases of COVID-19 to about 825,000 last week, the biggest drop since the start of the pandemic, although health officials have said they fear new variants of the viruses can slow or reverse this progress.
New cases of the virus have fallen for four consecutive weeks to the lowest level since the beginning of November, according to a Reuters analysis of state and municipal reports. The sharpest drop was in California, where cases in the week ending February 7 fell 48%. Only Oregon, Puerto Rico, Arkansas and Vermont reported an increase in cases. (Open tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR in an external browser to see a state-to-state graph.)
At least three new variants of the new coronavirus are circulating in the United States, including the UK variant B.1.1.7 which is 30% to 40% more contagious, according to the researchers.
“I’m asking everyone to keep their guard up,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Monday. “The continued proliferation of variants remains a major concern and is a threat that can reverse the recent positive trends that we are seeing.”
The average number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals fell 15% to 88,000 last week, also a record percentage drop, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the COVID Tracking Project, run by volunteers. It was the lowest average number in hospitals since late November.
Mortality fell 2.5% last week to 22,193. Excluding the accumulation of deaths reported by Indiana, fatalities fell 9.5% last week. Deaths are an indicator of delay and usually drop several weeks after cases and hospitalizations drop.
Cumulatively, about 464,000 people died of the virus in the United States, or one in 704 residents.
Nationally, 7.3% of exam tests were positive for the virus, compared to 8.5% the previous week, according to data from the COVID Screening Project.
Graph: GRAPHIC-COVID-19 global tracker: here
Chris Canipe graphic, written by Lisa Shumaker, edited by Tiffany Wu