The number of new COVID-19 cases has hit a level not seen since last June, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“As each week passes and as we continue to see progress, these data give me hope,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said, according to a transcript of a White House briefing.
“Yesterday, CDC reported a little over 27,850 new cases of COVID-19. Our seven-day average is about 27,700 cases per day. This represents yet another decrease of more than 19 percent from the prior seven-day average and also marks the second day in a row where our seven-day average is less than 30,000 cases per day.”
“The last time the seven-day average of cases per day was this low was June 18th, 2020,” she said.
“The seven-day average of hospital admissions is slightly over 3,400, a decrease of almost 15 percent from the previous seven-day period and another positive trend.”
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Walensky said that “the seven-day average of daily deaths has also declined to a new low of 498 per day.”
She noted that in some counties, the decrease in new cases had dropped to 25 percent.
Some cautioned that the virus is not fully vanquished, according to Fox News.
“My biggest concern is new strains of the virus and the need to remain vigilant in the months ahead,” said Boston College public health expert Dr. Philip J. Landrigan.
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Landrigan, who said America won’t really be out of the woods in his opinion until at least 85 percent of the population has been vaccinated, said the drop is “the best news we’ve had on the pandemic.”
He cautioned that variants mean vigilance is required for now, even if masks mostly are not.
But even with all that caution, he was upbeat.
“It is getting to the point to where by the Fourth of July we might be able to declare this thing over,” he said.
One medical professional said there is a chance of a spike in states with low vaccination rates if people who have not been vaccinated congregate indoors to beat the heat.
Rural communities have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Help ensure your community knows about safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. For help with these important conversations, access the Rural Communities Toolkit at https://t.co/R7b3W4rNlD. #WeCanDoThis pic.twitter.com/SQK284CbxE
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“If we have large numbers of unvaccinated people in those states, we may very well see a surge in those states, so I think a lot of us are worried about that,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, according to CNN.
Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Georgia and Tennessee, have the lowest vaccination rates per capita, according to the CDC.
