Coronavirus updates: Herd immunity by fall 'ambitious,' says surgeon general nominee
In 44 states, the seven-day average of new cases dropped over 10%.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 98.7 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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Over 15.7 million vaccine doses administered in US so far
More than 15.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States to date, according to data published on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website.
Over 13.5 million people have received one or more doses of the vaccine, while more than 2 million have received two doses, according to the CDC data, which was updated Tuesday.
US reports over 168,000 new cases
There were 168,058 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Tuesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The latest daily case count is far less than the country's all-time high of 298,031 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.
An additional 2,550 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Tuesday, down from a peak of 4,462 new deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.
COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the holiday weekend and earlier holidays.
A total of 24,253,368 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 401,730 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country's cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.
The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before nearing 300,000 on Jan. 2.
COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased in US on 13 days in January
In a continued encouraging sign, the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States decreased on 13 days in January, according to The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the U.S. outbreak.
That metric, which is "more resilient" than others to holiday reporting disruptions, increased six times this month, most recently on Jan. 12, The COVID Tracking Project said.
There are 123,820 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide.
The U.S. also recorded 144,047 new cases of COVID-19 and 2,141 additional deaths from the disease on Tuesday, though national data was incomplete due to the holiday weekend, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
Lights illuminate Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to honor American lives lost to COVID-19
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris honored the 400,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 with a tribute in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening.
The 400 lights along the pool were lit to symbolize the lives lost to the virus.
At the ceremony, part of the incoming administration's inaugural festivities, Harris called on Americans to "grieve and begin healing together."
"Though we may be physically separated, we, the American people, are united in spirit," she said.
Herd immunity by fall an ‘ambitious goal,’ says nominee for surgeon general
The possibility of obtaining herd immunity by the time summer is over and a new school year begins may be an "ambitious goal," Vivek Murthy, President Joe Biden's nominee for U.S. surgeon general, told George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday.
"I think what -- I think we can see improvement," Murthy said. "I think we can see reductions in cases and hospitalizations and deaths. I think we can see many more people immunized."
The "important thing" will be getting as many people vaccinated as possible, Murthy added.
"The more people we vaccinate, the better we will do, the fewer outbreaks we will see, the sooner we can get back to our way of life," he said.
Murthy also emphasized the importance of dispelling misinformation as well as continuing to take the necessary precautions, such as wearing masks and avoiding indoor gatherings.
"Then I think we can be on a path to not only turning the pandemic around, but, most importantly, getting our schools open, our workplaces back up and running, and regaining our way of life," he said.