The rate of new COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations all fell last week, with the nation's daily case average reaching the lowest figure seen in nearly five months, according to the CDC's COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published Sept. 23.
Eight findings:
Cases:
1. As of Sept. 21, the nation's seven-day case average was 54,186, a 10.6 percent decrease from the previous week's average. This marks the ninth week of decline and the lowest daily case rate seen since late April, CDC data shows.
Community levels
2. As of Sept. 22, 7 percent of counties, districts or territories had high COVID-19 community levels, a 6.3 percentage point decrease from the week prior.
3. Another 31.2 percent had medium community levels, and 61.7 percent had low community levels.
Hospitalizations
4. The seven-day hospitalization average for Sept. 14-20 was 3,971, a 9.9 percent decrease from the previous week's average.
Deaths
5. The current seven-day death average is 347, down 12.2 percent from the previous week's average. Some historical deaths have been excluded from these counts, the CDC said.
Vaccinations
6. As of Sept. 21, about 263.4 million people — 79.5 percent of the U.S. population — have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 225 million people, or 67.8 percent of the population, have received both doses.
7. About 109.6 million additional or booster doses in fully vaccinated people have been reported. However, 49.9 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. 24, the CDC estimates the omicron subvariant BA.5 accounts for 83.1 percent of U.S. COVID-19 cases. BA.4.6 accounts for 11.9 percent of cases, while BA.4 and BA.2.75 each account for 1.4 percent of cases. Other omicron subvariants make up the rest.