Important update: Healthcare facilities
CDC has updated select ways to operate healthcare systems effectively in response to COVID-19 vaccination. Learn more
UPDATE
Given new evidence on the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, CDC has updated the guidance for fully vaccinated people. CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. Children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with layered prevention strategies in place.
UPDATE
The White House announced that vaccines will be required for international travelers coming into the United States, with an effective date of November 8, 2021. For purposes of entry into the United States, vaccines accepted will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines. More information is available here.
UPDATE
Travel requirements to enter the United States are changing, starting November 8, 2021. More information is available here.

Give Me a Boost!

Give Me a Boost!
Covid Tracker Weekly Review
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Interpretive Summary for October 29, 2021

Give Me a Boost!

Percent of fully vaccinated population that has received a booster dose

COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to decline, but many parts of the country are still experiencing high levels of community transmission. CDC’s COVID Data Tracker shows that, as of October 28, 2021, 221 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 191 million people are fully vaccinated. More than 15 million people have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.*

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)External expanded the use of a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose for certain people. CDC now recommends that everyone 18 years and older who received the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine two or more months ago receive a booster dose. For people who received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, certain groups are now eligible for a booster dose at 6 months or more after their initial 2-dose series. This includes people ages 65 years and older, and people ages 18 years and older who live in long-term care settings, have underlying medical conditions, or live or work in high-risk settings.

Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself. CDC’s COVID Data Tracker shows that in August 2021, people who were unvaccinated were 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people who were fully vaccinated. People who were unvaccinated were 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to people who were fully vaccinated. Everyone should get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they are eligible, including people who have already had COVID-19. To find a vaccine provider near you, visit vaccines.gov or your state or local public health department website.

*The count of people who received a booster dose includes anyone who is fully vaccinated who has received another dose of COVID-19 vaccine since August 13, 2021. This includes people who received booster doses and people who received additional doses.

Note to readers: People who are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose may choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose. Some people may prefer the vaccine type that they originally received, and others may prefer to get a different booster. CDC’s recommendations now allow for this type of mix and match dosing for booster shots

Reported Cases

The current 7-day moving average of daily new cases (68,793) decreased 7.4% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (74,290). A total of 45,655,635 COVID-19 cases have been reported as of October 27, 2021.

45,655,635
Total Cases Reported

45,655,635
Total Cases Reported

68,793
Current 7-Day Average*

68,793
Current 7-Day Average*

74,290
Prior 7-Day Average

74,290
Prior 7-Day Average

-7.4%
Change in 7-Day Average since Prior Week 

-7.4%
Change in 7-Day Average since Prior Week 

*Historical cases are excluded from daily new cases and 7-day average calculations until they are incorporated into the dataset for the applicable date. Of 129,743 historical cases reported retroactively, 2,004 were reported in the current week and 3,280 were reported in the prior week.

Daily Trends in COVID-19 Cases in the United States Reported to CDC

red line

7-Day moving average

Daily Trends in COVID-19 Cases in the United States Reported to CDC 10-29-2021

SARS-CoV-2 Variants

Currently, Delta is the only variant classified as a Variant of Concern (VOC) in the United States. Nowcast projections* for the week ending October 23, 2021, estimate the national and regional proportions of the Delta variant to be greater than 99%.

*The median time from specimen collection to sequence data reporting is about 3 weeks. As a result, weighted estimates for the most recent few weeks may be unstable or unavailable. CDC’s Nowcast is a data projection tool that helps fill this gap by generating timely estimates of variant proportions for variants that are circulating in the United States. View Nowcast estimates on CDC’s COVID Data Tracker website on the Variant Proportions page.

SARS-CoV-2 Variants Circulating in the United States

Map of U. S. with regions with pie charts overlay showing percentage of variants 10-29-2021 More Variants Data

Vaccinations

The U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Program began December 14, 2020. As of October 28, 2021, 417.8 million vaccine doses have been administered. Overall, about 221.3 million people, or 66.7% of the total U.S. population, have received at least one dose of vaccine. About 191.2 million people, or 57.6% of the total U.S. population, have been fully vaccinated.* About 15.4 million additional/booster doses in fully vaccinated people have been reported. As of October 28, 2021, the 7-day average number of administered vaccine doses reported (by date of CDC report) to CDC per day was 969,270, a 21.9% increase from the previous week.

CDC’s COVID Data Tracker Vaccination Demographic Trends tab shows vaccination trends by age group. As of October 28, 2021, 96.9% of people ages 65 years or older have received at least one dose of vaccine and 84.9% are fully vaccinated. More than three-quarters (79.8%) of people ages 18 years or older have received at least one dose of vaccine and 69.2% are fully vaccinated. For people ages 12 years or older, 78% have received at least one dose of vaccine and 67.4% are fully vaccinated.

417,795,537
Vaccines Administered

417,795,537
Vaccines Administered

221,348,530
People who received at least one dose

221,348,530
People who received at least one dose

191,242,432
People who are fully vaccinated*

191,242,432
People who are fully vaccinated*

66.7%
Percentage of the US population that has received at least one dose

66.7%
Percentage of the US population that has received at least one dose

57.6%
Percentage of the US population that has been fully vaccinated*

57.6%
Percentage of the US population that has been fully vaccinated*

+0.5
Percentage point increase from last week

+0.5
Percentage point increase from last week

+0.4
Percentage point increase from last week

+0.4
Percentage point increase from last week

*Represents the number of people who have received the second dose in a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series (such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines) or one dose of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.

Daily Change in the Total Number of Administered COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Reported to CDC by the Date of CDC Report, United States

red line

7-Day moving average

Daily Change in the Total Number of Administered COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Reported to CDC by the Date of CDC Report, United States 10-29-2021

Hospitalizations

New Hospital Admissions

The current 7-day daily average for October 20–October 26, 2021, was 5,404. This is an 10.5% decrease from the prior 7-day average (6,037) from October 13–October 19, 2021.

3,223,806
Total New Admissions

3,223,806
Total New Admissions

5,404
Current 7-Day Average

5,404
Current 7-Day Average

6,037
Prior 7-Day Average

6,037
Prior 7-Day Average

-10.5%
Change in 7-Day Average

-10.5%
Change in 7-Day Average

The start of consistent reporting of hospital admissions data was August 1, 2020.

Daily Trends in Number of New COVID-19 Hospital Admissions in the United States

Trends in Hospitalization Rates in Children Ages 4 Years and Younger Not Eligible for Vaccination 10-29-2021

New admissions are pulled from a 10 am EST snapshot of the HHS Unified Hospital Timeseries Dataset. Due to potential reporting delays, data from the most recent 7 days, as noted in the figure above with the grey bar, should be interpreted with caution. Small shifts in historic data may also occur due to changes in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Provider of Services file, which is used to identify the cohort of included hospitals.

COVID-NET: Trends in Hospitalizations of Non-Hispanic Black People

CDC’s Coronavirus Disease 2019-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) shows that since the start of the pandemic, people from racial and ethnic minority groups have experienced disproportionately higher rates of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations compared to non-Hispanic White people. While rates of hospitalizations have started to decrease in all racial and ethnic groups, the hospitalization rate for non-Hispanic Black people remains higher than other groups. For the week ending October 9, 2021, preliminary data not adjusted for age show rates of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations in non-Hispanic Black people were 9.8 per 100,000 population—17% higher than rates in non-Hispanic White people (8.4 per 100,000).

*Additional information on racial and ethnic disparities in rates of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations can be found in a new report using COVID-NET data hereExternal.

Trends in Hospitalizations of Non-Hispanic Black People

Trends in Hospitalization Rates of Non-Hispanic Black People 10-29-2021

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-Associate­­d Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) is an additional source for hospitalization data collected through a network of more than 250 acute-care hospitals in 14 states (representing ~10% of the U.S. population). Detailed data on patient demographics, including race/ethnicity, underlying medical conditions, medical interventions, and clinical outcomes, are standardized case reporting form.

More COVID-NET Data

Deaths

The current 7-day moving average of new deaths (1,129) has decreased 9.4% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (1,247). As of October 27, 2021, a total of 740,348 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the United States.

740,348
Total Deaths Reported

740,348
Total Deaths Reported

1,129
Current 7-Day Average*

1,129
Current 7-Day Average*

1,247
Prior 7-Day Average

1,247
Prior 7-Day Average

-9.4%
Change in 7-Day Average Since Prior Week

-9.4%
Change in 7-Day Average Since Prior Week

*Historical deaths are excluded from the daily new deaths and 7-day average calculations until they are incorporated into the dataset by their applicable date. Of 10,687 historical deaths reported retroactively, 224 were reported in the current week; and 1,170 were reported in the prior week.

Daily Trends in Number of COVID-19 Deaths in the United States Reported to CDC

red line

7-Day moving average

Daily Trends in Number of COVID-19 Deaths in the United States Reported to CDC 10-29-2021 More Death Data

Testing

The percentage of COVID-19 NAATs (nucleic acid amplification tests)* that are positive (percent positivity) has decreased from the previous week. The 7-day average of percent positivity from NAATs is now 4.9%. The 7-day average number of tests reported for October 15 –October 21, 2021, was 1,425,495, down 1.3% from 1,444,590 for the prior 7 days.

618,049,268
Total Tests Reported

618,049,268 Total Tests Reported

618,049,268
Total Tests Reported

1,425,495
7-Day Average Tests Reported

618,049,268 Total Tests Reported

1,425,495
7-Day Average Tests Reported

4.9%
7-Day Average % Positivity

4.9%
7-Day Average % Positivity

5.1%
Previous 7-Day Average % Positivity

618,049,268 Total Tests Reported

5.1%
Previous 7-Day Average % Positivity

-4.1%
Change in 7-Day Average % Positivity since Prior Week

-4.1%
Change in 7-Day Average % Positivity since Prior Week

*Test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19

COVID-19 NAAT Laboratory Test 7-day Percent Positivity by State/Territory

COVID-19 NAAT Laboratory Test 7-day Percent Positivity by State/Territory 10-29-2021