The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
By Mitch Smith
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
Cases have fallen more than 40 percent over the last two weeks and more than 70 percent since the January peak. Fewer people are testing positive each day than at any point since late October.
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The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
Deaths remain extraordinarily high, with more than 2,600 announced on Thursday alone. In the coming days, the country is likely to reach 500,000 total deaths. But reports of new deaths are finally starting to slow.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
About 62,000 coronavirus patients were hospitalized nationwide as of Thursday, according to the Covid Tracking Project. That’s a decline of more than 50 percent in just over a month.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
Dangerous weather in Texas and other states forced testing and vaccination sites to close and prevented some agencies from reporting case numbers. The county that includes Austin hasn’t reported data since last Friday.
The state's power failures have plunged hospitals into crisis.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
The 11 states with the highest rates of recent cases all border the Atlantic Ocean.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
New York and New Jersey are adding cases at rates higher than every state except South Carolina. Though case reports in New York and New Jersey have fallen from their peaks, the pace of progress has slowed considerably in recent weeks.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
Highly infectious variants continue to emerge across the country, potentially undermining some of the progress of the last month. Even as the federal government ramps up tracking efforts, the pervasiveness of those variants remains largely unclear.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
Though case numbers have fallen somewhat in South Carolina, the Spartanburg, Gaffney and Orangeburg areas have some of the worst outbreaks in the country.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
About 12 percent of people in the country have received at least one vaccine dose, and about 5 percent are fully vaccinated. After weather-related delays, federal officials have said they hope for the pace of vaccination to rebound soon.
The State of the Virus: East Coast Lags as U.S. Sees Sustained Progress
A team of more than 50 journalists has been tracking the spread of the virus — including outbreaks at colleges, prisons and nursing homes — as part of The New York Times’s coronavirus data project.
