Newly reported coronavirus cases in the U.S. edged down, while federal health officials said hundreds of thousands of people between the ages of 12 and 15 have been vaccinated.
The U.S. reported 27,851 new cases for Tuesday, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Tuesday’s figure was slightly lower than Monday’s revised total of 28,634, and marked the fourth day in a row that new cases were under 30,000. Not all states report data on new cases daily.
The seven-day moving average, which helps smooth out states’ irregular reporting schedules, was 31,204 as of Tuesday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data. The 14-day average was 34,600. Both figures have been steadily declining for a month.
Hospitalizations have also been edging lower, with the latest data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showing 30,651 Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the country.
The U.S. reported 857 Covid-19 fatalities for Tuesday, as the total death toll topped 587,200, according to Johns Hopkins data.
While caseloads have been trending lower, the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. has been slowing, with an average of 1.8 million doses administered each day over the past week, according to a Journal analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was down from 2.2 million a week earlier and from 3.4 million in mid-April.
With 275.5 million vaccine doses administered, about 37.5% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated and 47.7% has received at least one dose, CDC data show. More than 47% of American adults are now fully vaccinated.
Vaccination levels vary by state. Nearly 50% of Maine residents are now fully vaccinated, while in Mississippi, the figure is 26.2%.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday the U.S. has administered vaccines to more than 600,000 12- to 15-year-olds in less than one week. In a briefing held by the White House Covid-19 response team, Ms. Walensky said a total of four million people under the age of 17 have been vaccinated across the country.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said it was “likely and almost certain” that there would be sufficient data about the safety of the vaccines for children of all ages by the end of the calendar year or first quarter of 2022.
Originally Appeared On: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/covid-2021-05-19