Live updates: Winter weather delays vaccine distribution across the U.S.
Despite a decline in cases, local officials say it’s too early to lift restrictions
By Rebecca Tan, Gregory S. Schneider and Erin Cox
After a holiday surge that killed more than 7,000 residents, coronavirus infections in the District, Maryland and Virginia are declining steadily — an encouraging but precarious mark of progress, officials and experts say.
On Thursday, the region’s seven-day average of new daily cases fell to the same levels as mid-November. Hospitalizations were also down to pre-Thanksgiving levels, and deaths had dropped to half of their January peak.
“I have rarely offered words of optimism. But I have been watching the numbers, and I’m beginning to feel optimistic,” said Eric Toner, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Given the increased use of masks and the number of residents who have achieved some degree of immunity, either from surviving covid-19 or receiving the vaccine, “we have reason to believe that maybe the worst is over,” he said.
Nonetheless, with an average of more than 3,000 new cases daily, experts say it is still too early to lift major restrictions on social and commercial activity.
