US average daily COVID-19 infections below 30,000, progress uneven nationwide

WASHINGTON -- For the first time in 11 months, the daily average of new coronavirus infections in the United States has fallen below 30,000 amid continuing signs that most communities are emerging from the worst of the pandemic, but the progress has not been even across the nation.

PROGRESS NOT UNIFORM

The seven-day average dipped to 27,815 on Friday, the lowest since June 22 and less than a tenth of the infection rate during the winter surge, according to state health department data compiled by The Washington Post.

"The pandemic map remains speckled with hot spots, including parts of the Deep South, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest. At the local level, progress against the contagion has not been uniform as some communities struggle with inequities in vaccine distribution and in the health impacts of the virus," said the Post on Saturday.

The vast bulk of the American landscape has turned pale green, the color-code for "low or moderate" viral burden, in a COVID-19 Community Profile Report released this week by the Biden administration. The report showed 694 counties still have "high" levels of transmission, less than half as many as in mid-April.

The big question now is whether the virus will be thoroughly squelched through mounting vaccinations, or whether it will smolder in areas with low immunization rates and potentially flare when colder weather returns, David Rubin, director of PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was quoted as saying. The lab has been modeling the outbreak for more than a year.