The number of COVID-19 cases increased by only 10% as the rate of increase continues to slow

The rate of new COVID-19 infections continues to slow as the country nears the end of the fourth wave of the pandemic.

The United States recorded 33,807 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday with a seven-day moving average of 144,316, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

This means that although the total number of cases has increased over the past month, the growth rate has slowed significantly to the lowest since early July.

New infections were up 10% from the average of 130,221 reported on August 15, compared to the same period last month, when cases rose 322% over a four-week period.

Nearly half of the U.S. states and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections decline or hold steady over the past two weeks, according to an analysis of data from DailyMail.com.

Deaths are currently on the rise with 279 virus-related deaths recorded on Sunday with a seven-day moving average of 1,655, which is a jump of 156 from the average of 644 reported four weeks ago.

The pace has also increased, and at the same time last month, there was only a 98% increase in deaths from COVID-19 over a four-week period.

However, experts say deaths are a lagging indicator and often don’t start to decline until two or three weeks after cases appear.

It comes as cumulative vaccination rates continue to rise in many states, including five – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont – revealing that they have vaccinated at least two-thirds of all. the residents.

Experts say the slowdown in Wave Four – fueled by a push from the Delta variant – can be attributed to several factors.

One of the reasons is that, as more and more people have contracted COVID-19 over the past month, the virus has no more people to infect.

Another is that vaccination rates have increased, both due to a fear of Delta and a growing number of tenures.

As of Monday, 27 states and the District of Columbia had fully immunized at least half of all residents, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Of those states, five have fully immunized two-thirds of their population.

Vermont is currently leading the pack and has fully vaccinated 68.6% of its residents. Connecticut follows closely with 67.1% and Maine (66.8%), Massachusetts (66.8%) and Rhode Island (66.1%) round out the top five.

All five also have one of the lowest COVID-19 case rates in the country, with Connecticut recording the lowest seven-day average of 106.5 cases per 100,000 people, according to CDC data.

But while the Northeast is doing well, other states continue to fill hospital beds, mostly with unvaccinated patients.

Overall, hospitalizations have declined with 96,870 Americans receiving hospital care for COVID-19, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Of these patients, just over a quarter – 24,946 – are in intensive care units (ICUs).

In West Virginia, a total of 810 patients are currently hospitalized with the virus, as the state approaches its highest single-day total of 818, set in January 2021.

However, the state set two more records on Saturday, the latest date for which data is available, with 254 patients in intensive care and 161 on ventilators.

West Virginia currently has the lowest vaccination rate in the country with just 39.9% of residents fully vaccinated against Covid.

“Back when we started going this route with the Delta variant, I came to you and told you that we really need to buckle up because this thing could be rampant across our state,” Governor Jim said. Justice during a press briefing on Friday.

“Well, it sure is. “

According to Dr. Clay Marsh, the COVID-19 Czar of West Virginia, 85% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients have not been vaccinated.

This includes 90 percent of intensive care patients and between 91 and 93 percent of those on ventilators.

“We have reached this level of capacity in hospital beds, occupied by people infected with COVID-19, about 100 days faster than during our last increase in December 2020,” Marsh said at the press conference.

Meanwhile, Idaho hospitals remain overwhelmed by a wave of COVID-19 patients.

Data from the state’s public health department shows that a record 613 residents are receiving hospital care for the virus.

Of those patients, 163 are in intensive care beds, just 10 short of the record of 173 set on August 31.

Similar to West Virginia, Idaho has one of the lowest rates of fully immunized residents at 40.1% compared to the national average of 53.8%.

“It’s really hard to be a primary care doctor, to do this every day and to live in a state where the vaccination rate is so low”, Dr Meghan McInerney, medical director of the Saint Alphonsus ICU Regional Medical Center in Boise, told ABC News.

The hospital is currently treating 45 COVID-19 patients, a dramatic increase from just five receiving care in the spring of 2021.

Doctors told the network that patients deny having COVID-19 even as they are dying.

“Don’t tell me I have Covid. I don’t believe in Covid, ” patients told Dr Carolyn McFarlane, a hospitalist in Saint Alphonsus.

“There’s an almost contradictory tone in it when we ask, ‘Have you been vaccinated? She told ABC News.

“It creates a loophole in the tone of the play, because it’s a feeling of, ‘Well, you’re going to treat me differently because I haven’t been vaccinated,’ and that’s far from the truth.”