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Coronavirus Watch: Cases and hospitalizations are falling, but deaths still at highs

Grace Hauck   | Paste BN

There's some good news: COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the U.S. are falling.

New daily cases have declined 35% from their Jan. 11 peak, a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. The average number of daily cases has fallen to about 162,000, from 249,000. 

And "the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is decreasing in every major US region," the COVID Tracking Project said Wednesday. About 107,000 Americans were hospitalized because of the virus Tuesday, down from a peak of more than 130,000 three weeks ago.

Recorded deaths, however, lag behind cases and hospitalizations, and recent daily death tolls have remained close to record highs set earlier this month.

It's Thursday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news that you need to know:

  • COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents in New York have been undercounted by about 50% as poor infection-control practices and understaffing fueled the coronavirus crisis, New York's Attorney General reported Thursday.
  • President Joe Biden will sign two executive actions Thursday designed to expand health care coverage amid the coronavirus pandemic, as well as removing Trump administration restrictions on abortion access. Meanwhile, Biden is facing an uphill climb to pass his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
  • Mass vaccination clinics will soon become familiar to millions of Americans as part of Biden's COVID-19 strategy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency could begin running up to 100 high volume sites nationwide within a month.
  • California will turn over its vaccine distribution to health insurance giant Blue Shield. Blue Shield will take over a vaccine delivery that has been one of the slowest in the nation, the state health agency told San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday.
  • Early safety data from the first month of COVID-19 vaccination finds the shots are as safe as the studies suggested they'd be.
  • Vaccine coverage is twice as high among white people on average than Black and Latino people, a CNN analysis of data from 14 states found.
  • Chicago Public Schools continued all-virtual learning Thursday for about 3,200 pre-K and special education students who had been in classrooms for two weeks amid an impasse in negotiations between the city and the teachers' union.
  • The rate of traffic deaths jumped in the first half of 2020, and safety experts blame drivers who sped up on roads left open amid the pandemic..
  • The Wisconsin pharmacist charged with trying to destroy COVID-19 vaccines pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal tampering charges.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 25.4 million COVID-19 cases and 426,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 100.4 million cases and more than 2.1 million deaths.

See the numbers in your area here, check out where cases are rising here, and see how many vaccines your state has received here.

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck

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