COVID-19 cases have been falling nationwide for two consecutive months, though deaths increased slightly over the last week, according to the CDC's COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published Sept. 16.
Eight findings:
Cases
1. As of Sept. 14, the nation's seven-day case average was 59,856, a 15.9 percent decrease from the previous week's average. This marks the eight week of decline.
Community levels
2. As of Sept. 15, 13.6 percent of counties, districts or territories had high COVID-19 community levels, a 3.9 percentage point decrease from the week prior.
3. Another 35.8 percent had medium community levels, and 50.5 percent had low community levels.
Hospitalizations
4. The seven-day hospitalization average for Sept. 7-12 was 4,371, a 6.1 percent decrease from the previous week's average.
Deaths
5. The current seven-day death average is 358, up 3.9 percent from the previous week's average. Some historical deaths have been excluded from these counts, the CDC said.
Vaccinations
6. As of Sept. 14, about 263.4 million people — 79.3 percent of the U.S. population — have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 224.6 million people, or 67.7 percent of the population, have received both doses.
7. About 109.2 million additional or booster doses in fully vaccinated people have been reported. However, 50 percent of people eligible for a booster dose have not yet gotten one, the CDC said.
Variants
8. Based on projections for the week ending Sept. 17, the CDC estimates the omicron subvariant BA.5 accounts for 84.8 percent of U.S. COVID-19 cases, while BA.4.6 accounts for 10.3 percent and BA.4 makes up 1.7 percent. Other omicron subvariants make up the rest.