COVID-19 updates: US cases at lowest point since Christmas

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky acknowledged that it's tough to make national guidelines to ease restrictions that will fit every different city and town.

"One of the challenging pieces has been how we make guidance that is general enough so that it can be applied to New York City and rural Montana and Indian country, which is our responsibility, and yet have it be specific enough so that people can get their questions answered," Walensky said in a webinar in hosted by the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project.

Looking to the future, Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA's vaccine chief, said "Obviously the hope is -- and I think it's probably the 90% scenario -- is that we're going to now move into a period where ... the virus becomes endemic. And we will be living alongside it probably in a period where we will start to get yearly boosters for it."

But Dr. Sara Oliver, an epidemic intelligence service officer for the CDC, noted that, although there's a drop in cases, the same hasn't happened yet in hospitals.

"It's difficult to envision a time point where we can say COVID is over if we're still in a time period where our hospitals and ICUs are feeling the strain," Oliver said.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Thursday announced an immediate end to the state’s indoor mask mandate -- including for schools -- citing a rapid decline in cases and a drop in hospitalizations.

"Teachers & schools will no longer be required to wear masks but school districts will need to work with their local health authorities to have plans in place to deal with outbreaks," the governor tweeted.

He added, "Employers and organizations, including school districts, may set their own policies, and I encourage them to work with their employees and communities to ensure that policies are in place."

Masks in Nevada will only be required on public transit per federal law, or in special facilities like hospitals or long-term care facilities.

-ABC News' Matthew Fuhrman

More than 80,000 Americans have died this year due to COVID-19. In just the last week, 16,100 Americans have died of the virus, according to federal data.

Even as hospitalizations continue to fall, COVID deaths continue to average around 2,300 per day, data provided by HHS and the CDC show. This is still below the peak average number of daily deaths which reached 3,400 deaths a day last winter.

Mississippi currently holds the highest seven-day death rate in the U.S., followed by Virginia and South Carolina, according to federal data.

On average, nearly 12,700 Americans are being admitted to hospitals each day for COVID, down 24.5% in the last week, federal data shows.

Charles, Prince of Wales, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, according to a spokesperson for Clarence House, his official London residence.

The 73-year-old heir apparent to the British throne "is now self-isolating" and "is deeply disappointed not to be able to attend today's events in Winchester and will look to reschedule his visit as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

It's the second time that Charles has contracted COVID-19. He previously tested positive in March 2020, early on in the pandemic before vaccines were available, but he had mild symptoms.

Both the Prince of Wales and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a Clarence House spokesperson has said.

The couple attended a British Asian Trust event at the British Museum in London on Wednesday night, along with hundreds of other guests, including several British politicians such as Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Health Secretary Said Javid. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines, was also in attendance.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee