COVID case rates continued to free-fall over the last two weeks, with most states now reaching 50 or fewer new cases of COVID per day.
The big picture: The corresponding lifting of mask and other mandates is leading companies to start to set return to work dates.
By the numbers: Nationwide, the U.S. is now averaging roughly 82,000 new COVID cases per day — a 64% drop over the past two weeks.
- The nation is averaging 25 new cases per 100,000 per day.
- Only six states (excluding Maine due to data anomalies) have 50 or more cases per 100,000.
- One state per the data, Washington, has reached transmission of fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 people a day.
Yes, but: There still are roughly 2,000 deaths from COVID in the U.S. a day, down 24% from two weeks ago.
- And several states have case rates that remain stubbornly high.
- Idaho and Kentucky saw cases drop 22% and 37% respectively, but still had at least 77 cases per 100,000 people. Alaska's cases dropped 65% over the last two weeks and its case rate was still at 75 cases per 100,000.
What to watch: The spread of an even more transmissible Omicron subvariant has raised lingering concerns we might not be done with Omicron surges just yet.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the specific case rates of COVID and removed references to CDC categorization of their transmission levels. A previous version of this story said the majority of states were seeing "moderate" levels of transmission.