All adults would become eligible for a second COVID-19 booster shot under a plan being worked on by the Biden administration, the Washington Post reported late Monday. The plan is supported by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top infectious-disease expert, and its coronavirus coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha, the Post reported, though it still needs to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The news comes as the U.S. seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases remains mostly steady and deaths are falling, but hospitalizations and the positivity rate for COVID tests keep on climbing to multi-month highs. The daily average for new cases stood at 117,035 on Monday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 8% from two weeks ago but still in the middle of a relatively narrow range that has lasted four the past couple months. The number of new cases reported is expected to have been reduced by the Fourth of July holiday, the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, the daily average for hospitalizations rose to 37,899 on Monday, up 18% in two weeks. And the positivity rate on COVID tests stands at 18%, the highest since Feb. 1. On the bright side, the daily average for deaths has fallen 2% from two weeks ago to 327. Globally, the confirmed case tally rose above 556.5 million on Tuesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins, while the death toll is above 6.35 million with the U.S. leading the world with 88.7 million cases and 1.021,306 deaths.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
0
0
