data: COVID tracking project, CSSE Johns Hopkins University, State Health Department.Map: Andrew Witherspoon, Michelle McGee / Axios
The United States has lowered new coronavirus infections to the lowest levels since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Big picture: Over the past 56 weeks, almost every week, Axios has been tracking changes (often increasing) in new COVID-19 infections. Currently, the number of these cases is very small and the virus is well contained, so this is the last week’s map.
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With numbers: In the United States, an average of about 16,500 new cases per day occurred in the past week, an improvement of 30% over the previous week. New infections declined in 43 states and remained flat in the other 7 states.
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The official number of cases hasn’t been that low since the Americans went into lockdown last March. When the pandemic was still happening, no one knew how long this would last.
Overall, about 33 million Americans — Approximately 10% of the population — are positive for COVID-19.
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About 595,000 people have died from the virus in the United States, which is more deadly to Americans than the combined wars of the last 80 years, including World War II, and other armed conflicts.
The United States made a big mistake Contain the virus until the vaccine arrives.
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Cities and businesses began closing in March last year. From there, the virus rushed into a second wave last summer, with an average of more than 65,000 cases per day, overwhelming hospitals in many parts of the country.
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The failure was overturned in the winter, when hundreds of thousands of people were infected with the virus per day and the death toll exceeded 3,000 per day in about a month.
But now The virus is actually controlled nationwide and in all states, almost entirely thanks to vaccines. According to the CDC, more than half of American adults are now fully vaccinated.
What’s next: Infections and deaths are still skyrocketing around the world, and especially in developing countries, the Biden administration faces consistently increasing pressure to export more vaccines now that the United States has contained the virus. doing.
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The United States couldn’t and still can’t control the virus without vaccines. The risk remains as high as for unvaccinated people. As the Washington Post recently reportedAn average of about 500 Americans per day still die of COVID-19, most of whom are unvaccinated.
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In the United States, some local epidemics will still occur, especially in areas where vaccinations are relatively low. However, they are probably small and the vaccinated person is protected.
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Over time, the vaccine’s immunity is likely to weaken, and in combination with new variants of the virus, boosters may be needed to stay ahead of another epidemic.
For now, The United States has finally reduced the virus to a level that almost all experts agree to be safe. With less than 20,000 cases per day, it is widespread throughout the US population. 331.5 million people, The number of cases is relatively small, and the number continues to improve overall.
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In New York, which bears the brunt of the virus’s arrival in the United States, there are currently an average of about 800 new cases per day in about 20 million states.
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In Washington, DC, there are about 28 new cases per day.
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Florida has more infections per day than any other state, averaging about 1,800. Again, this is spread across the state with a population of over 20 million, and its numbers are improving like any other part of the country. Florida’s daily infections fell by 25% this week alone.
Conclusion: The vaccine works. There is no reason to believe that the virus will soon begin to grow again, as the number of patients has reached a record low and the improvement is the result of the vaccine.
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After 56 weeks, this will be the end of the weekly map, as the number of cases in the United States is small and likely to remain low. thank you for reading.
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