Coronavirus Watch: Cases are falling again

The rate of new daily coronavirus cases is falling again in the U.S.

Paste BN's Mike Stucka reports the pace of new cases has fallen some 22% from the previous week. Instead of reporting about 500,000 cases per week, the country is now reporting about 400,000, Johns Hopkins University data shows

Hospitalizations are falling, too. About 146,300 people with COVID-19 were reported in hospital beds Thursday, down 8.6% from a week earlier.

Meanwhile, deaths are rising. About 2,300 Americans were reported dead from COVID-19 this week, up about 16% from a week earlier.

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

• Sixty million households have ordered free tests from the federal government since the Biden administration launched COVIDtests.gov last week, White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.
• Unvaccinated children may get indirect protection from COVID-19 through their vaccinated parents, a new study out of Israel found. Researchers studied households made up of two parents and unvaccinated children, estimating the effect of parental vaccination on unvaccinated children’s risk of catching COVID-19. The research was conducted during two periods in 2021, corresponding with the alpha and delta variant waves.
• San Francisco will allow vaccinated office workers, gym members, and other "stable cohorts" of people to stop wearing masks indoors on Feb. 1.

See our COVID-19 resource guide here. See total reported cases and deaths here. On vaccinations: About 75% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 63% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

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