ATLANTA (AP) – Average daily cases of new coronavirus in the United States have dropped below 100,000 for the first time in months in recent days, but experts warned Sunday that infections remain high and that precautions should be taken to slow down the pandemic. stay.
According to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day moving average number of new infections for much of December was well over 200,000, and in January it rose to about 250,000. summer.
The average fell below 100,000 for the first time since November 4 on Friday. It remained below 100,000 on Saturday.
‘We are still about 100,000 cases a day. We are still about 1,500 to 3,500 deaths a day. The cases are more than two and a half times bigger than what we saw during the summer, ‘said dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. “It’s encouraging to see these trends slow down, but it’s coming from an extraordinarily high place.”
On Saturday, the seven-day average for deaths was about 2,500. According to Johns Hopkins, that number peaked earlier in the winter at more than 3,300.
The U.S. saw an increase of more than 5,400 deaths on Friday – nearly half of Ohio, where authorities said earlier in the week that they plan to add deaths to the state within days of their deaths. up to 4,000 unreported COVIDs detected. -19 deaths.
Walensky added that new variants, including one that was first detected in the UK and which appear to be more transmissible and which have already been recorded in more than thirty states, are likely to lead to more cases and more deaths.
“It’s all going together because we can ‘t wait,” she said. “We have to keep wearing masks. We need to continue with our current mitigation measures. And we must continue to vaccinate as soon as the vaccine is available to us. ‘
According to Johns Hopkins data, the U.S. recorded more than 27.5 million virus cases and more than 484,000 deaths.
Because parents and political leaders are eager to have children across the country back in school for personal learning, it is important that people continue to take precautions, Walensky said.
“We must all take responsibility for reducing the spread of the community, including wearing masks so that we can get our children and our society back,” she said.
The CDC issued guidance on Friday set out the mitigation strategies needed to reopen schools or to keep them open.
Some teachers have expressed concern about returning to the classroom without being vaccinated, but the guidelines do not say it is necessary. Dr. Anthony Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week” that it would be “optimal” if teachers were vaccinated, but that other measures set out in the 24-page document could reduce their risk.
“If you balance the benefit of returning to school with the fact that the risks are reduced, practically speaking, if I follow the recommendations and these new guidelines of the CDC, I think it will alleviate the concern on both sides,” he said.
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