In the past week (October 15 through 21), the U.S. reported about 510,000 new cases, according to the CDC.* This amounts to:
- An average of 73,000 new cases each day
- 156 total new cases for every 100,000 Americans
- 14% fewer new cases than last week (October 9-15)
Last week, America also saw:
- 42,000 new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals (13 for every 100,000 people)
- 9,000 new COVID-19 deaths (2.7 for every 100,000 people)
- 100% of new cases are Delta-caused (as of October 16)
- An average of 800,000 vaccinations per day (including booster shots; per Bloomberg)
*Note: This week’s update relies on data as of Thursday, October 21. I usually use Friday data (via the COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review), but was unable to do so this week because I headed offline for a hiking trip before the Friday data were posted. We’ll be back to the usual sourcing next week!
Nationwide, COVID-19 cases continue to go down—slowly but surely. We’re now seeing roughly 70,000 new cases a day, comparable to case counts when the Delta surge started to really pick up at the end of July. It’s worth noting, though, that this is still higher than the peaks of both the spring and summer 2020 surges.
At the state level, more parts of the country are approaching lower coronavirus transmission levels. As of Thursday, eight jurisdictions have dropped below 100 new cases per 100,000 people in the past week. From lowest case counts to highest, these are: California, Hawaii, Florida, Louisiana, Washington D.C., New Jersey, Maryland, and Mississippi.
Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming remain the states with the highest COVID-19 rates, followed by Idaho and North Dakota. These states are all in northern parts of the U.S.—and their recent case increases have coincided with cold weather—the Washington Post and other outlets have noted. Other states may see similar COVID-19 upticks as it becomes too cold to socialize outdoors.
Booster shots continue to inflate vaccination numbers, as these third doses comprise between one-third and one-half of doses administered in the U.S. each day. Over 11 million people have already received a booster dose—more than the total doses administered in a number of low-income countries.
One thought on “National numbers, October 24”