New US Cases Fall For 9 Straight Days; Drop Not Due To Vaccines, Fauci Says

AP: US Virus Numbers Drop, But Race Against New Strains Heats Up
The U.S. is recording just under 3,100 deaths a day on average, down from more than 3,350 less than two weeks ago. New cases are averaging about 170,000 a day after peaking at almost 250,000 on Jan. 11. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has fallen to about 110,000 from a high of 132,000 on Jan. 7.States that have been hot spots in recent weeks such as California and Arizona have shown similar improvements during the same period. (Drew and Kunzelman, 1/26)

NBC News: Fauci Says Drop In Covid Cases Not Due To Vaccine: 'We Don't Want To Get Complacent'
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday said that a drop in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in most of the country cannot likely be attributed to vaccines, meaning people should continue to be as cautious as possible. "I don’t think the dynamics of what we’re seeing now with the plateauing is significantly influenced, yet — it will be soon — but yet by the vaccine," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC's "TODAY" show. (Fieldstadt, 1/25)

The Wall Street Journal: New U.S. Cases Stay Below 200,000 For Ninth Straight Day 
Hospitalizations in the U.S. due to Covid-19 fell below 110,000 for the first time since Dec. 13, as the country reported fewer than 200,000 new coronavirus cases for the ninth day in a row. A total of 109,936 people across the country were hospitalized due to the disease as of Monday, according to the Covid Tracking Project. The number of patients requiring treatment in intensive care units also fell slightly to 20,875. (Hall, 1/26)

In news from California, New York and Maryland —

The Hill: California Lifts Regional Stay-At-Home Order 
California on Monday lifted its regional coronavirus stay-at-home order because of slightly improving ICU conditions, health officials announced. As a result, the state will return to the county-based restrictions established last summer. Most counties will be returning to the strictest tier. (Weixel, 1/25)

Los Angeles Times: Eight More L.A. County Children Contract COVID-Related MIS-C
Eight more children in Los Angeles County have contracted an inflammatory condition connected to the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases to 62, county public health officials announced Saturday. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, is serious but relatively rare. In L.A. County, it has disproportionately affected Latino children. No further details about the eight new cases were available. Children are generally less vulnerable to the coronavirus than adults and usually remain asymptomatic. The inflammatory reaction that results in MIS-C usually develops two to four weeks after exposure to the virus. (Pinho, 1/25)

The Wall Street Journal: New York To Ease Some Covid-19 Restrictions As Cases Decline 
New York will start relaxing economic restrictions that were imposed after Thanksgiving to respond to an increase in novel coronavirus cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. The Democratic governor said in Buffalo that the state would allow elective surgeries to resume in Erie County, where they were halted on Dec. 4. He also said the state Health Department would review other restrictions that cover parts of New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and New Rochelle. During the fall, the state imposed localized restrictions based on infection rates, but Mr. Cuomo abandoned the approach in favor of a metric that looked at hospital capacity. (Vielkind and De Avila, 1/25)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Reports Lowest Coronavirus Positivity Rate, Smallest Number Of New Cases Since Late November 
Maryland health officials reported 1,686 new cases of the coronavirus Monday, along with 28 new deaths. It’s the smallest number of new daily cases since Nov. 28, when 1,590 were reported. (Condon, 1/25)

In other coronavirus news —

Stat: Undercounting Of Covid-19 Deaths Is Greatest In Pro-Trump Areas
Some of these excess deaths are likely due to factors that were exacerbated by the pandemic, such as overdoses and suicide in response to isolation and economic hardship, or subpar health care in an overrun system. But researchers believe many are Covid-19 deaths that go uncounted. Overall, the true Covid-19 death toll is 31% higher than official figures, according to the study, which has been submitted to PLOS Medicine. The researchers found that unattributed Covid-19 deaths were significantly higher in rural areas than urban; in the South compared to other regions; and in areas with lower levels of education. All these factors tend to correlate with support for Trump. (Goldhill, 1/25)