COVID falling in 49 of 50 states as deaths near 900,000

By KEN SWEET

(AP) — With the brutal omicron wave rapidly easing its grip, new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. are falling in 49 of the 50 states, even as the nation’s death toll closes in on another bleak round number: 900,000.

The number of lives lost to the pandemic in the U.S. stood at over 897,000 as of midday Friday, with deaths running at an average of more than 2,400 a day, back up to where they were last winter, when the vaccine drive was still getting started.

But new cases per day have tanked by almost a half-million nationwide since mid-January, the curve trending downward in every state but Maine.