Daily COVID-19 Infections Drop Below 100K for the First Time in Months
For the first time since November, the average new daily coronavirus infections in the U.S. fell under 100,000 — well below the average infection rate in December and January, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The seven-day average of new infections dropped below 100,000 on Friday, continuing at that level through Sunday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Researchers reported 83,321 new infections and 3,361 new deaths Sunday.
These figures are well below the average daily infection rate of 200,000 for December and nearly 250,000 in January.
Nevertheless, health experts warned the country has a long way to go before celebrating a turning point in the pandemic.
“We are still at around 1,500 to 3,500 deaths per day. The cases are more than two-and-a-half-fold times what we saw over the summer,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “It’s encouraging to see these trends coming down, but they’re coming down from an extraordinarily high place.”
