According to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average number of new COVID-19 cases increased to about 88,000 a day, about 15,000 more than early last week. The numbers include the 150,000 new cases reported on Monday.
The total number of new COVID-19 cases for the week that ended Sunday, Nov. 7, was listed at 578,563, a jump of 13 percent from the previous week. However, deaths attributed to COVID-19 for the same time period were listed as 7,944, a decrease of 7 percent from the prior week.
Hospitalizations are sitting at nearly 45,000, about the same as a week ago. Meanwhile, the 7-day average of vaccine doses administered in the United States rose to nearly 1.5 million as adults are getting booster shots and children 5 to 11 years old become eligible for vaccination.
Overall, the United States has reported 47 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States have now surpassed 770,000.
On Friday, the CDC issued a new reportTrusted Source that stated unvaccinated people were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than vaccinated people and more than 7 times as likely to die from the disease.
The rate of transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 on a county-by-county basis as of Nov. 16. Source: CDC Experts say the pandemic isn’t behind us yet.
“We cannot let our guard down, or the virus will continue to find and infect unvaccinated persons and send them to the hospital,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, told Healthline.
“It is still incredibly important to get vaccinated, wear your masks, practice good hygiene, and do all you can to protect yourself and those around you,” Dr. Jamila Taylor, director of healthcare reform and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, told Healthline.
When might we see the end of the pandemic, and what might life look like, at least in the United States?
“It is hard to even envision this thing being completely eliminated,” Taylor said. “Even if the virus itself were to be eliminated, the effects will be seen over the long term, for sure.
The economic, mental, and physical health effects of COVID-19 have changed the lives of millions of people.”
