The nation's seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases decreased by nearly 10 percent this week, marking the fourth consecutive week of decline, according to the CDC's COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published Aug. 19.
Eight findings:
Cases
1. As of Aug. 17, the nation's seven-day case average was 95,652, a 9.9 percent decrease from the previous week's average.
Community levels
2. As of Aug. 18, 33.9 percent of counties, districts or territories had high COVID-19 community levels of COVID-19, a 5.7 percentage point decrease from the week prior.
3. Another 41.1 percent had medium community levels, marking a 0.5 percentage point increase from the week prior.
Hospitalizations
4. The seven-day hospitalization average for Aug. 10-16 was 5,690, a 6.1 percent decrease from the previous week's average.
Deaths
5. The current seven-day death average is 394, down 10.7 percent from the previous week's average. Some historical deaths have been excluded from these counts, the CDC said.
Vaccinations
6. As of Aug. 17, about 262.3 million people — 79 percent of the U.S. population — have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 223.7 million people, or 67.4 percent of the population, have received both doses.
7. About 108.2 million additional or booster doses in fully vaccinated people have been reported. However, half of people eligible for a booster dose have not yet gotten one, the CDC said.
Variants
8. Based on projections for the week ending Aug. 20, the CDC estimates the omicron subvariant BA.5 accounts for 88.9 percent of U.S. COVID-19 cases, while BA.4 accounts for 4.3 percent. Other omicron subvariants make up the rest.