Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
By Lisa Schnirring.
In its weekly review of COVID-19 data today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said indicators continue to decline, with the 7-day average for new daily cases 33,722, down 9.2% from a week ago.
New deaths from the virus are averaging 344 a day, down 15.2% compared to the previous week. Likewise, new daily hospitalizations are down 4.9% compared to the previous week’s average.
The CDC noted that it will switch to an every-other-week schedule for its updates starting on Mar 3.
Also today, the CDC released new Omicron variant projections, showing a continued increase in XBB.1.5 viruses, which are now at 85%, up from nearly 80% the previous week. The CDC said XBB.1.5 is growing in all US regions, and other lineages show very slow or no growth.
In in other COVID developments, Pfizer and BioNTech today announced that it has submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for full licensure of its bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for use in people ages 12 and older for primary and booster doses.