Coronavirus tally: Daily Hospitalizations and deaths rise to multi-month highs, cases hold steady above 100K

Just as COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths are starting to break out to new multi-month highs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended on Tuesday that the U.S. should pursue a booster strategy had better protects against newer more dominant strains, like omicron. The FDA indicated that a new generation of COVID-19 boosters could be ready for rollout as soon as late summer or early fall. Meanwhile, the seven-day average of new COVID cases rose 3% from two weeks ago to 108,963 on Tuesday, and has held relatively steady for the past two months, according to a New York Times tracker. But the daily average of hospitalizations have increased every day since mid-April, and rose 7% from two weeks ago to a 3 1/2-month high of 32,148 on Tuesday. The daily average for deaths was 377 on Tuesday, up 17% from two weeks ago and the highest number since April 20. The number of Americans who have received a first booster shot was 105.09 million, or 47.3% of the population, according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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