The U.S. saw minor fluctuations in COVID-19 cases, admissions and deaths this week, according to the CDC’s COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published July 29.
These findings suggest the nation is still in a “stay-tuned moment,” as epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, PhD, called it, to see how the highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.5 will affect these rates.
Ten findings:
Cases
1. As of July 27, the nation’s seven-day case average was 126,272, a 0.9 percent decrease from the previous week’s average.
Community levels
2. As of July 28, 45.8 percent of counties, districts or territories had high community levels of COVID-19, a 3.9 percentage point increase from the week prior.
3. Another 35.5 percent had medium community levels, marking a 1.74 percentage point decrease from the week prior.
Hospitalizations
4. The seven-day hospitalization average for July 20-26 was 6,340, a 1.7 percent increase from the previous week’s average.
Deaths
5. The current seven-day death average is 364, down 4.8 percent from the previous week’s average. Some historical deaths have been excluded from these counts, the CDC said.
Vaccinations
6. As of July 27, about 261.7 million people — 78.8 percent of the U.S. population — have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 223.2 million people, or 67.2 percent of the population, have received both doses.
7. About 107.9 million additional or booster doses in fully vaccinated people have been reported. However, 50.1 percent of people eligible for a booster dose have not yet gotten one, the CDC said.
Variants
8. Based on projections for the week ending July 23, the CDC estimates the omicron subvariant BA.5 accounts for 81.9 percent of U.S. COVID-19 cases, while BA.4 accounts for 12.9 percent. Other omicron subvariants make up the rest.
Testing
9. The seven-day average for percent positivity from tests is 18 percent.
10. The nation’s seven-day average test volume for July 15-21 was 494,590, down 12.7 percent from the prior week.
