COVID deaths in steep decline, but cases up

The average US daily death toll from COVID-19 plunged by nearly 20 percent over the past week — even as the average number of new cases and hospitalizations went up, officials said Wednesday.

An average of 745 people died per day between March 30 and April 5 — down 19.7 percent from 928 during the previous week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House press briefing.

The decrease in fatalities came as vaccination rates continued to ramp up across the nation — with around 3 million people in the country now getting shots every day, she said.

“I’m encouraged by the decreased numbers of deaths,” Walensky said. “While these rates of vaccinations are incredible and so encouraging for all of us, trends are increasing in both case numbers and hospitalizations.”

The average number of daily coronavirus cases grew by 2.3 percent, from 62,058 to 63,479. from last week to this week, according to the CDC.

And the average number of daily hospitalizations increased by 2.7 percent, from 4,949 to 5,082, during the same time period.

Walensky attributed some of those cases to younger Americans, many of whom are among the last in line to be vaccinated.

“Across the country, we are hearing about [virus] clusters associated with day-care centers and youth sports,” she said.

“Hospitals are seeing more and more younger adults — those in their 30s and 40s — admitted with severe disease.

“We must continue to vaccinate as many Americans as we can.”

Recent data from Johns Hopkins University show that nearly half of the nation’s new COVID-19 cases are concentrated in five states — including New York, which had the most new infections across the country last week. The others are New Jersey, Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania

As of Wednesday, 76 percent of US seniors and 80 percent of teachers or child-care workers had received at least one vaccination, Walensky said.

Overall, 32 percent of all adults in the US have received at least one shot, according to the CDC’s data-tracking Web site.

More than 556,000 people in the US have died of COVID-19.