Despite the fact that the pandemic struck the whole world no less than three years ago, officials and scientists are still trying to keep the numbers of infections under control today, and it seems like they’ve been pretty successful at it.
As it turns out, this past week, the number of deaths has decreased to levels not seen since late March of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was only just starting to spread across the globe.
According to the CDC, the virus claimed the lives of 1,160 American citizens this week.
With 169 fatalities, the week of March 18, 2020, was the second lowest number of victims.
Dr. John Brownstein told ABC News that “It is really unlikely that COVID deaths will go to zero, because we have a virus that’s now here to stay and, most likely, will evolve constantly to outpace our immunity.”
Furthermore, less than 100,000 people tested positive overall in the past week, reflecting a sharp decline in cases. Due to the widespread accessibility of at home tests, experts have expressed concern that case counts may be drastically understated.
On the other hand, a recent spike in cases in India may be related to the XBB.1.16 omicron subvariant.
Although it now accounts for almost 10 percent of all new instances in the United States, experts say it that it doesn’t appear to be more any severe than comparable subvariants.
Brownstein also stated that “We are still constantly worried about some new variant, and this is the reason surveillance and public health action is still so important, but at the individual level I believe we can now rest assured that we are absolutely in a better place.”
According to CDC data, over 50 million Americans have gotten the most recent COVID-19 bivalent vaccine.
Ever since the beginning of this year, uptake has slowed down a lot, however, with only five million people receiving the vaccine in the past few months.
The second bivalent shot can now be given to people over 65, 4 months after the first one.
Immunocompromised people can be eligible for additional doses and may also receive a second booster 2 months after the first one.
Brownstein concluded by saying that “We do not know what a fall surge can bring but given the rapidly declining number of deaths and hospitalizations, even with all the new variants emerging, this is a very positive outlook for the future.”
