COVID-19 updates: US sees 1st day since early November with fewer than 100,000 new cases
The U.S. reported just over 96,000 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 105 million people worldwide and killed over 2.3 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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Reported cases down 50% in US, but ICU occupancy remains high in several states, report finds
The number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are continuing to decline nationwide, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
There has been a four-week downward trend of reported COVID-19 cases – resulting in a 50% decline since the peak on Jan. 8.
However, the rates of adult occupancy in intensive care units remain high in several states, the report found.
So far, 39,037,964 vaccine doses have been administered, with 9% of the population (30.3 million people) having received one or more doses and 3% of the population (8.3 million people) having received two doses.
Since President Joe Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, 22,512,683 doses have been administered toward his 100 million goal.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
Cases of UK variant could be doubling every 10 days in the US, study finds
Cases of the more contagious U.K. variant of the COVID-19 virus is spreading rapidly through the U.S., as much as doubling every 10 days, a new study suggests.
The study has not peer reviewed, so it has not been scrutinized for inaccuracies or context by specialists.
It is still not known whether the U.K. variant is more virulent or deadly, but it is more transmissible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last month that the U.K. variant could become predominant in the U.S. by March if spread the way it did in the U.K.
Vaccines don’t seem to be strongly impacted by the U.K. variant, but scientists are concerned about the efficacy of the vaccines against the South African variant.
-ABC News’ Eric Strauss
Winter storm shuts down vaccination sites in NY, NJ
A second storm bringing heavy snow to the Northeast has shut down vaccination sites in at least two states.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy both announced that appointments for Sunday would be rescheduled due to the inclement weather.
Mass vaccination sites located indoors, such as the newly opened Yankee Stadium, will continue as scheduled as they have the infrastructure and equipment in place to ensure people can safely enter and exit the location, according to ABC New York station WABC.
9% of Americans have received 1 or more vaccine doses
Nine percent of Americans -- 28.9 million people – have received one or more vaccine doses, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Two percent of Americans -- 7.5 million people -- have received two doses, the report said.
Deaths are down 4% since the peak on Jan. 13, while hospital admissions have decreased 37% since the Jan. 9 peak, the report said.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Brian Hartman contributed to this report.
Statewide mask mandates linked to decreased hospitalizations: CDC
States that instituted mask mandates reported a decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers analyzed hospitalization data in 10 states with mask mandates between March and October of last year. They found a 5.5% decline in weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations among adults, compared to the period before the mandates were implemented.
In addition to reducing virus exposure and transmission, masks are part of a multi-pronged strategy to "reduce strain on the health care system," the researchers note, adding that masks likely have a direct effect on COVID-19 illness and death.
The researchers did not examine whether other policies, such as school closings and physical distancing recommendations, contributed to the decline. The results were published Friday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
-ABC News' Eric Strauss contributed to this report.