Question: What are the latest trends in New York and DC?

Answer: Here are the latest trends for the USA, New York, DC, and Maryland.  I made these charts with data from covidtracking.com.  Tomorrow, I’ll share trends for other states readers frequently ask about– Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.  If there are other states you’d like to see, please let me know.  And here are a few overarching take-aways from these four figures:

1. After months of growth, testing has stagnated (avg. 1.6 million tests/day over the last week).
2. Test positivity has fallen.  Across the country, test positivity has averaged 7.2% over the last week.  Generally, positivity rates over 5% indicate that testing is not keeping pace with community spread.  In New York, DC, and Maryland, test positivity is once again beneath the 5% threshold.
3. Daily cases have fallen dramatically since their peak earlier in January.  Over the last week, the US averaged 117,000 cases/day.  Obviously, daily cases are still very high, but the downward trend across the country as well as in New York, DC, and Maryland is a promising development.  (Note: the spread of the UK variant is concerning given its increased transmissibility, which could lead to another explosion in cases.  Please remain vigilant!)
4. The number of patients currently hospitalized across the country and in these three geographies has also begun to fall.  Yesterday, 81,439 patients were hospitalized across the country, down from a high in early January of 132,464 patients hospitalized.
5. Daily deaths have plateaued in the country and DC.  Daily deaths have even begun to fall in Maryland and New York.  Even so, during the last week nearly 22,000 Americans died from COVID.

Figure 1. USA

Figure 2. New York

Figure 3. DC

Figure 4. Maryland