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According to Johns Hopkins University data, the US dropped COVID-19 deaths to its lowest point in more than a year over the weekend. The number for 222 deaths on Sunday is the lowest since March 23, 2020, when 192 confirmed deaths were recorded in the early days of the pandemic. At an information session of the White House on Monday, CDC director Rochelle Walensky mentioned recent trends on the question. She noted that matters have increased over the past four weeks, and that the CDC is monitoring some variants that are more transferable. Sunday’s count may not have been complete either: Because it was the Easter holiday, the data might not contain complete reports from all states. Numbers from California were not available Sunday, the Hill reported.
Indeed, the Wall Street Journal early Tuesday reported that new business in Monday’s numbers was sharply higher than it was Sunday, probably due to the lack of reporting from some countries over the holiday weekend. The US reported 603 COVID deaths on Monday. But during Monday’s briefing, Walensky confirmed that the average number of deaths last week was lower than the previous week. She noted that millions of Americans, though some of the news is still grim, “act every day to be vaccinated,” at an average rate of 3 million a day. -19, “she said. The coronavirus claimed 555,600 lives in the U.S. and more than 2.86 million worldwide. (Read more COVID-19 stories.)