For the first time in months, the daily average for new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths all ticked lower on the day, but the two-week trend is still firmly rising, led by a near doubling in Minnesota and more than 50% increases in Oklahoma and Alaska.
The rising trend in the U.S. comes as China ordered people living in Shanghai and Beijing to take further COVID-19 tests after new cases emerged in the cities, only recently after Shanghai emerged from strict lockdowns.
The latest outbreak in Shanghai, China’s largest city, was linked to a karaoke parlor that reopened without authorization before the lockdowns were lifted, and failed to reinforce prevention measures, as the Associated Press reported. Beijing has also seen an outbreak of cases that was linked to a nightlife spot.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong and the gambling hub of Macao, as well as other cities in China, currently have tight COVID restrictions in place.
Back in the U.S., the seven-day average of new COVID cases fell to 100,155 on Tuesday from 105,754 on Monday, but was still up 4% from two weeks ago, according to a New York Times tracker. The daily average has remained steady within a range of more than 95,000 but less than 115,000 since May 16.
The states seeing the biggest two-week gains in the daily average of new cases were Minnesota at 97%, Oklahoma at 56%, Alaska at 51% and Texas at 44%. Declines were the biggest in Hawaii at 26%, Nevada at 25% and Colorado at 18%.
The positivity rate for polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests, reported to the U.S. government has increased to 17%, the most since Feb. 2.
The daily average for hospitalizations was 33,485 on Tuesday, after the average was revised up to 34,100 on Monday, which was the most since March 8. The current daily decline was the first since mid-April, but the number was still up 10% from two weeks ago.
Wyoming had the biggest two-week increase in hospitalizations at 58%, followed by Alabama at 50%, while New Hampshire led in declines at 32%, followed by North Dakota at 28%.
The daily average for COVID-related deaths fell to 327 on Tuesday from 389 on Monday, but has increased 13% in two weeks. Florida led all the states in the daily average of deaths at 51.4 and in deaths per 100,000 residents at 0.24.
On the vaccine front, 222.27 million Americans, or 66.9% of the total population have been fully vaccinated, while 106.28 million, or 47.8% of the fully vaccinated, have received a booster shot, according to the latest data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Based on a MarketWatch analysis of CDC data, 76,681 people aged less than five years old, or 0.4% of that population, have been fully vaccinated.
States with the highest percentage of its population who are fully vaccinated are Rhode Island at 84% and Vermont at 82%, while the states with the lowest percentage were Wyoming at 51% and both Alabama and Mississippi at 52%, according to New York Times data.
On a global basis, there have been a total of 551.73 million COVID cases and 6,342,723 deaths, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the way by far in cases with 88.09 million and in deaths with 1,018,434.
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