US COVID-19 deaths and new cases drop over Christmas week

(Reuters) – The United States has recorded more than 15,000 deaths from COVID-19 and more than 1.2 million new cases over the past week, although those numbers may be artificially low due to gaps in data. intercourse during the Christmas holidays.

Reported deaths fell 17% in the week ended Dec. 27 and new cases fell 16%, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county reports, the first double-digit declines since the week after Thanksgiving holidays at the end of November. In addition, weekly cases and deaths have increased since early October.

(For interactive stateful report, open tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR in an external browser)

According to the COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-led effort to track the pandemic, gaps in vacation reports and arrears “will obscure the realities of the country’s many epidemics.

Hospitals, which remain open, can provide the most accurate data from last week. More than 118,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on December 27, up 4.5% from the previous Sunday, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.

Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease official, has warned of a likely increase in cases after the holidays. “If you look at the slope, the inclination of the cases that we went through as we went into the end of the fall and soon to the beginning of the winter, it is really quite disturbing,” he said. reported Sunday on CNN.

Reported COVID-19 cases rose 7% in Virginia last week, the largest percentage increase in the country, according to Reuters analysis. Puerto Rico, New York and Georgia were the only other regions to report an increase.

South Dakota, Pennsylvania and Arkansas experienced the highest number of deaths per capita, with more than 8 deaths per 100,000 population.

In the United States, 10.3% of tests came back positive for the virus, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. Twenty-seven states had positive test rates greater than 10%. Idaho had the highest positive test rate in the country at 52.8%, followed by Iowa at 49.9%.

The World Health Organization considers positive test rates above 5% worrying, as it suggests there are more cases in the community that have yet to be discovered.