The number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations across the country decreased last week – although the death toll is reportedly still high.
Cases fell 17 percent in the week to Jan. 27, while COVID-19 hospitalizations fell 10 percent, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
This was the second consecutive week of decline in both categories.
But the death toll from the virus is still at numbers not seen before this month – last week it rose 7 percent with another 22,797 deaths.
However, deaths tend to lag behind in cases and hospitalizations.
“Even with cases falling in the US, there could still be a lot of death rates in a week or more,” said the researchers behind the project.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that the seven-day positive average for COVID-19 tests for the 23rd consecutive day in the Empire State has decreased.
“We have dealt with a holiday boom driven by increased social activity,” Cuomo said in a statement. “The boom is slowing down.”
“In the here and now the news is very good, but keep an eye on the British variants and the other variants, as all indicate that more zeal will be needed,” he said.
More infectious mutations, or variants of the virus, have broken out in the UK and South Africa – and both have now been detected in patients in the US.
Despite the silver lining, Cuomo also said on Saturday that the dark cloud of the pandemic remains over the state – the overall positivity rate in New York pulled up the previous day, from 4.65 percent to 4.75 percent.
Health experts also warn that a decline in testing over the past few weeks could cause a false drop in the number of new cases, the detection project said.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, the U.S. recorded more than 26 million cases and 440,000 deaths as of Sunday.