US COVID-19 Cases Six Times Higher Than Last Year, Seven-Day Average At 119,725

KEY POINTS

The weekly average of COVID-19 cases in May 2021 was 17,887
The seven-day average of COVID-19 deaths decreased compared to last year
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned that the worst of the pandemic has yet to come

COVID-19 cases in the United States are now six times higher than numbers recorded in 2021, with the weekly average hitting above 100,000 infections, according to health officials.

On Saturday (May 28), the U.S. recorded a seven-day average of 119,725 new COVID-19 infections. On the same day last year, the seven-day average of COVID-19 cases was 17,887, according to an analysis by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Despite the increase in new COVID-19 cases, the weekly average of coronavirus-related deaths dropped to 470 on May 27, compared to 637 on the same day in 2021.

As of May 26, 2022, 71.52% of the U.S. population is experiencing low COVID-19 community levels. However, 20.73% of Americans are still experiencing medium levels and 7.76% have high COVID-19 community levels, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.

The rising number of weekly COVID-19 cases comes nearly a month after Deborah Birx, a member of the Trump’s administration White House coronavirus task force, warned Americans to prepare for another wave of infections.

“Each of these surges are about four to six months apart. That tells me that natural immunity wanes enough in the general population after four to six months that a significant surge is going to occur again. And this is what we have to be prepared for in this country,” Birx said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates also warned that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to come, adding that more investment is needed to prevent another pandemic in the future.

“It seems wild to me that we could fail to look at this tragedy and not, on behalf of the citizens of the world, make these investments,” Gates told The Financial Times. “I don’t want to be a voice of doom and gloom, but it’s way above a 5 percent risk that this pandemic, we haven’t even seen the worst of it.”

As of Sunday, health officials in the U.S. recorded a total of 83,984,644 COVID-19 cases and 1,004,733 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.