The number of COVID-19 deaths per day in the United States fell to its lowest point in more than a year on Sunday, with the document killing 222 people in the country.
The U.S. saw the drop in the toll of 676 deaths recorded on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The data show that the number of daily deaths reached its lowest point since the beginning of the pandemic on March 23, 2020, when 192 deaths were documented.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the death toll on Sunday is 804 deaths a day compared to the seven-day average of fatalities through Saturday. This is down from 968 the previous week.
The low total death toll on Sunday could also reflect different patterns of information from state and county COVID-19 statistics on weekends, according to the New York Times. Data from Johns Hopkins University usually show a decline in deaths on Saturdays and Sundays.
Only 222 deaths were reported yesterday by COVID in the US, which is the lowest since March 23, 2020. https://t.co/WbBcN2canq pic.twitter.com/FAyvg7tp4Z
– Nate Silver (@ NateSilver538) April 5, 2021
CDC director Rochelle Walenksy said the seven-day average death toll had dropped compared to last week’s data during a briefing on the White House COVID-19 response team.
But he warned that the country was entering its fourth week of “increased trends and cases,” including CDC data documenting a seven-day average of about 64,000 cases and 4,970 hospital admissions per day.
The news comes when Walensky has balanced warning of the risks still present in the pandemic and expressing encouragement for the progress of the vaccination effort in recent days.
“While we watch with concern this increase in the number of cases, the good news is that millions of Americans are rising every day to get vaccinated,” he said during Monday’s briefing.
Health officials celebrated Monday that nearly a quarter of U.S. adults, nearly 60 million, are fully vaccinated, and 40 percent of adults receive at least one dose.
Last week, Walensky warned of “imminent fatality,” as COVID-19 cases increased if people did not follow health precautions.