Tracking COVID-19 Infections Across the USA
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has seen a dramatic evolution since its onset in January 2020, with daily case averages fluctuating significantly over the past two years. A visualization by The New York Times shows the seven-day average of COVID-19 cases every day since January 2020, offering a clear timeline of the pandemic's progression.
While the visualization does not provide information about the seven-day average of hospitalizations, the daily average of COVID-19 cases, the number of recovered cases, the number of active cases, or the number of COVID-19 deaths, it does highlight a notable peak in early January 2022. This peak, driven by the omicron variant, saw the U.S. record its highest daily averages of reported cases.
From January 2020 to early 2021, the U.S. experienced multiple waves of COVID-19, with surges in mid-2020 and around December 2020–January 2021. During this third surge, daily new cases rose to over 200,000. Throughout 2021, cases fluctuated with periods of decline and resurgence associated with variants and changes in public health policies, but averages generally remained below the peak levels seen in early 2022.
The U.S. saw its highest daily averages in early January 2022, marking a significant spike in infections. While exact average daily case counts for this peak are not detailed numerically in the provided sources, the information underscores that January 2022 represented the largest surge to that date.
The visualization by The New York Times provides a valuable resource for understanding the evolving nature of the pandemic, influenced by viral variants, public health interventions, and vaccination progress, all contributing to case trends within the U.S. over this two-year period. It is important to note that this visualization does not provide data about the number of COVID-19 vaccinations administered in the United States.
[1] The New York Times. (2022). Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count. [online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-us-cases.html [Accessed 2 Feb. 2022].
[1] The visualization from The New York Times sheds light on the COVID-19 pandemic's progression, spanning various medical-conditions such as the number of cases and their trends over time. [2] Science plays a crucial role in understanding health-and-wellness issues arising from the pandemic, including the emergence of new variants and the effectiveness of vaccines in managing these conditions.
