Daily New U.S. COVID-19 Cases Dip Below 100,000, Health Officials Say It's 'Too Soon' To Ease Restrictions

Average daily new coronavirus cases in the United States dipped below 100,000 in recent days for the first time in months, but experts cautioned Sunday that infections remain high and precautions to slow the pandemic must remain in place.

The seven-day rolling average of new infections was well above 200,000 for much of December and went to roughly 250,000 in January, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University, as the pandemic came roaring back after it had been tamed in some places over the summer.

That average dropped below...

Hold on to that mask — it’s way too soon to ease mandates requiring face coverings, the new head of the CDC said Sunday.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky noted the country is still seeing about 100,000 new COVID cases per day and up to 3,500 daily deaths.

“The cases are more than two-and-a-half-fold times what we saw over the summer,” Walensky told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s encouraging to see these trends coming down, but they’re coming down from an extraordinarily high place.”