|
 The progress against the virus, however, is threatened by several
new variants, experts said, adding that face masks and social
distancing measures were still very much needed.
About 4% of cases in the country are related to a more contagious
variant first detected in the United Kingdom, according to Dr.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
"We have projections that it may be the dominant strain by the end
of March," she told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
The country logged more than 639,000 new COVID-19 cases in the week
ended Feb. 14, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county
reports. Compared to the previous week, new cases increased in only
three out of 50 states: Alaska, Nebraska and South Dakota.
(Open https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR in an external browser to see a
state-by-state graphic.)
Deaths fell for a second week in a row, down 1.8% last week to
21,787. Excluding a backlog of deaths reported by Ohio, fatalities
were down 15% last week. Cumulatively, nearly 486,000 people have
died from the virus in the United States, or one in every 673
residents.
[to top of second column] |
 The average number of COVID-19
patients in U.S. hospitals fell to 74,000 last
week, the lowest since mid-November, according
to a Reuters analysis of data from the
volunteer-run COVID Tracking Project.
Nationally, 5.7% of COVID-19 tests came back
positive for the virus, the lowest level since
the week ended Oct. 25, according to data from
the COVID Tracking Project.
(Graphic: COVID-19 global tracker - https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/)
(Graphic by Chris Canipe, writing by Lisa
Shumaker, editing by Tiffany Wu)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
