The seven-day average for coronavirus cases in the United States is more than six times what it was exactly a year ago, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
The seven-day average of 119,725 cases compared to just 17,887 cases in 2021.
However, deaths related to the novel coronavirus have dropped compared to last year (now a seven-day average of 470 deaths from 637 a year ago), despite the higher infection rate.
This is primarily due to increased immunity through vaccines and prior infections, as well as the broader availability of treatments, according to The Hill.
Although there are areas in the United States that are experiencing medium and high coronavirus community levels, 54% overall has a low level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
However, the number of coronavirus cases are still far below what they were this past winter, when the omicron variant led to a widespread increase in inflections, The Hill reported.
Despite this, health experts have warned Americans that they should be cautious ahead of a possible sharp increase in cases. For example, Deborah Brix, who was on the Trump administration's White House coronavirus task force, recently said that Americans should be "preparing right now for a potential surge in this summer across the southern United States."
In addition, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been urging that more investments are needed in order to prevent a future pandemic, warning that "we're still at risk of this pandemic generating a variant that would be even more transmissive and even more fatal."
He stressed that "it's not likely, I don't want to be a voice of doom and gloom, but it's way above a 5 percent risk that this pandemic, we haven't even seen the worst of it."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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