Daily Covid infections in the US drop below 100,000 for first time since December 1

The rapid declining of daily Covid cases in America has reached another milestone in fall from its peak last month. America is averaging 85,495 new cases each day over the past seven days – a 44 percent drop over the past week and the first time the average has fallen below 100,000 since the start of the Omicron-fueled wave on December 1.

America’s Covid situation has totally reversed over the past month. Daily case averages have dropped for 28 consecutive days, dating back to January 24. The surge peaked in mid-January, reaching 800,000 cases per day before beginning its plummet. Since the peak, cases have fallen 89 percent.

The rapid decline in Omicron cases after reaching their peak – a phenomena recorded in other countries like the UK, South Africa and Denmark as well – combined with the relatively mild nature of the highly infectious strain has officials hopeful the variant is the final stage of Covid’s ‘pandemic’ phase.

Between a robust booster campaign – with more than 70 percent of eligible Americans having received the shot – and millions of Americans also having natural immunity because of previous infection, Omicron may have just run out of people to infect.

Many experts are hopeful this will usher in the ‘endemic’ phase of Covid where humans may be able to live alongside the virus with virtually no restrictions whatsoever, similar to the flu.

California has become the first state to declare Covid as an ‘endemic’, with Gov Gavin Newson announcing last week that the nation’s most populous state was set to move on from the pandemic. The Golden state joined a group of nearly a dozen blue states that lifted pandemic-related restrictions in mid-February.

Falling Covid numbers, along with the slew of blue states to relax measures, has increased pressure of the White House and the CDC to lift remaining pandemic-related restrictions. The CDC still recommends masking in schools and other indoor public places despite many remaining states dropping restrictions. 

Pressure is coming from abroad as well, as European nations start to declare the pandemic over and move back to a ‘normal’ life. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to lift the little remaining Covid restrictions soon – including isolation requirements for a positive test – this week.

Earlier this month, the nation removed many other restrictions like work from home orders, mask mandates and capacity restrictions on certain venues. A requirement for National Health Service employees to be vaccinated in order to stay on the job may be removed. Proof of vaccination requirements at some venues will be dropped as well.

U.S. federal officials are reportedly looking towards the end of the pandemic, though. Controlling Covid going forward will require the use of regular, likely annual, booster shots. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Food and Drug Administration has already begun the process of reviewing data for fourth doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has suggested since last year that it was likely there could be a fourth shot. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in January that these repeated shots would be necessary long-term to keep Covid under control. Israel, which has been ahead of the U.S. during its vaccine rollout, recently made fourth shots available to its elderly population as well. 

Some Americans already can receive fourth vaccine doses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that immunocompromised Americans receive the additional shot to shore up protection against Omicron. While the Omicron variant poses little risk to the general population, some people with serious comorbidities are still at risk of severe infection if they do catch the virus.

There are fears that Americans will not be willing to continue receiving Covid vaccine doses, though, especially if they do not feel the virus is a major threat. Despite booster shots becoming available to the general population in late-September, uptake of the boosters did not peak until Omicron arrived in December.

The population waiting for Covid cases to spike, or waiting for a variant that is perceived to be more dangerous, to arrive before receiving additional shots is what opens the door to future variants and outbreaks.

Covid deaths are starting to drop at a rapid rate in the U.S. as well. The nation is averaging 1,862 daily Covid deaths, down 20 percent over the past week. It is the first day since January 19 that daily deaths in the country have fallen below 2,000 per day, though lags in reporting caused by the Presidents Day holiday is likely playing a role.