US Averaging 107,000 New COVID-19 Cases a Day

By GNNLiberia On Aug 8, 2021 182

By VOA News

People attend a county fair Aug. 6, 2021, in Rolla, Missouri. The state health department says only a little more than 4 in 10 Missourians have received the COVID vaccine as the pandemic continues to infect thousands.

The U.S. averaged more than 107,000 new COVID-19 cases a day for the first week of August, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center on Saturday.

For comparison, on June 7, the U.S. reported just more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The increase in coronavirus infections comes as the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread quickly throughout the United States.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in an interview with CNN earlier this week that government data shows infections in the U.S. “could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to our surge in early January.”

After peaking at nearly 250,000 infections per day in early January, cases bottomed out in June, but began ramping up even as U.S. adults were being vaccinated. More than 70% of all U.S. adults have been at least partially vaccinated, AP reported.

The seven-day average for daily fatalities in the U.S. increased from about 270 a day to almost 500 a day over the past week as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins.