For the second week in a row, new cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped nationally—17 percent for cases and 10 percent for hospitalizations—though cases and hospitalizations remain much higher than at any point before the fall/winter surge. … Reported deaths rose 7 percent this week, with states reporting a total of 22,797 lives lost to COVID-19. …Even with cases falling across the United States, we may have another week or more of very high death numbers to come.