US surpasses 700,000 COVID deaths

FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2021, file photo, nursing coordinator Beth Springer looks into a patient's room in a COVID-19 ward at the Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport, La. A decline in COVID-19 cases in the United States over the last several weeks has given overwhelmed hospitals some relief, but administrators are bracing for yet another possible surge as cold weather drives people indoors. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

More than 700,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, Johns Hopkins University reported Friday night.

It took 3 ½ months for the U.S. to go from 600,000 to 700,000 deaths, The Associated Press reported.

The surge in COVID-19 over the summer is blamed on the highly transmissible delta variant.

However, the U.S. is starting to see a drop in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. The Centers for Disease Control reported a 13% drop in cases in the seven-day average from the prior week.

The U.S. is currently reporting about 106,000 cases a day and more than 1,400 deaths.

Vaccination rates are also climbing. The CDC says 55.6% of Americans are fully vaccinated and 64.6% have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

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