US COVID-19 death toll dips as vaccination rollout increases

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The US recorded a 22 percent decline in COVID-19 related fatalities as vaccination rollout was amplified to about 2.4 million doses per day, based on Reuters and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• New COVID-19 cases also dropped for nine straight weeks, per the analysis report.
• Reuters also found that COVID-19 hospitalization rates decreased.

According to Reuters analysis and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US reported a 22 percent decrease in COVID-19 deaths last week as vaccinations were boosted to around 2.4 million doses daily.

About one out of five Americans have already received their initial vaccine dose as of Sunday, 18 percent higher than last week while around 11 percent already got their two shots, which accelerated to nine percent, per the CDC.

For nine straight weeks, the cases of new infections have decreased to less than 378,000 (10 percent). COVID-19 deaths have also dipped below 10,000 last week, the lowest since last November.

Health authorities, though, noted that Americans should not become complacent, as they cited the resurgence of the outbreak in Europe after the COVID-19 restrictions loosened up.

“These should be warning signs for all of us. The (US) cases climbed last spring, they climbed again in the summer, they will climb now if we stop taking precautions,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Monday.

Last Friday, Walensky said that air travel was at its highest peak since the pandemic, as people are propelled to go on spring vacation due to the hot weather.

According to Reuters analysis, 19 out of 50 states have recorded higher new cases last week versus the last seven days, higher than 13 states in the previous week. States that had the highest measure of new infections include New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.

The agency also discovered that the average number of US hospitalization due to COVID-19 dipped to 13 percent at 38,000 nationwide, the lowest since October last year.

Source: AOL.com