Coronavirus Watch: US deaths lowest in 10 months
Average daily COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have fallen to the lowest level in 10 months, and May is on track to be the least deadly month of the pandemic since March 2020.
The country is now averaging about 600 deaths a day, down from more than 3,000 a day in January.
But while cases have plunged in the U.S., the coronavirus is accelerating in Asia.
"COVID-19 is exploding across much of Asia, overwhelming hospitals and health care," said Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in a statement Wednesday. "More people have been diagnosed with the disease in Asia over the past two weeks than in the Americas, Europe and Africa combined."
It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news you need to know:
- A federal advisory committee will meet Wednesday to decide whether to recommend Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents ages 12 to 15.
- President Joe Biden announced a partnership with ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft to offer free rides to vaccination sites to help meet his target of 70% of U.S. adults getting at least one vaccine shot by July 4.
- At least nine states have announced they will end participation in federal unemployment assistance programs directed at alleviating problems caused by the pandemic.
- A variant first discovered in India may be more contagious than most versions of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday. Though impacts from vaccines on the triple-mutant virus are unclear, there is some evidence it may able to evade some of the protections provided by vaccines. The WHO also said the variant was probably one of several contributing factors contributing to the crushing surge in India.
Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 32.7 million COVID-19 cases and 582,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 159 million cases and more than 3.3 million deaths. About 46% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and more than 35% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
See the numbers in your area here. Check out where cases are rising here. See state and county-level vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines.
– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck