By Adam Martin
Newly reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S. were down from a day earlier, following a surge in reported infections last week.
The U.S. reported more than 43,000 new cases for Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and published early Monday morning, Eastern time. That number might update later in the morning. It was down from 62,062 a day earlier but up from 33,766 a week earlier.
Cases have surged recently, with the U.S. reporting 86,947 on Wednesday and 77,339 on Friday. While down from January’s highs of around 300,000, cases have remained above 50,000 since March 22 and above 60,000 for the four days preceding Sunday, reversing a downward trend that had lasted since March 2.
The seven-day moving average of new cases, which smooths out irregularities in the data, was 61,821 as of Saturday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data. The 14-day average was 58,438. When the seven-day average is higher than the 14-day average, as it has been since Wednesday, it suggests cases are on the rise.
However, Johns Hopkins reported some delays in states’ reporting of new cases last week, including New York and Alabama, that led to a spike on Wednesday.
The U.S. reported 507 deaths for Sunday, down from a day-earlier 741 but up from 447 a week earlier. The numbers of reported new cases and deaths tend to be lower toward the beginning of the week.
The U.S. vaccine rollout continues, with 15.5% of the population fully vaccinated and 28.2% of the population having received at least one shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In all, the U.S. has reported more than 30.26 million cases and over 549,000 Covid-19 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data. World-wide, nearly 127.19 million cases have been reported and more than 2.78 million people have died.