COVID-19 hospitalizations decreasing as states begin lifting restrictions

New coronavirus hospitalizations have been decreasing across much of the country in recent days, according to data from the Coronavirus Tracking Project.

Hospitalizations on Wednesday totaled 107,444, and have been declining since Jan. 12, when they were at 131,326. The number of people in intensive care units also fell slightly to 20,497.

Nationwide, the seven-day average of new infections has been decreasing slightly from the peak in mid-December, but it is still over 150,000 cases a day.

The nation reported nearly 4,000 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to more than 429,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

At the same time, many states and cities have begun to loosen some earlier restrictions that were put in place to prevent a surge over the December holidays. Indoor dining has resumed in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, with Michigan following on Feb. 1. 

New York City is also weighing the possibility, after a reversal from Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

California lifted a regional stay-at-home order and let individual counties make their own decisions again, within a statewide framework. 

Still, numbers show the virus is raging largely unchecked across the country, and the newly discovered variants are more transmissible, possibly putting Americans at greater risk.

Vaccines have been rolling out to states since December, but supply is limited and delivery has been chaotic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 24.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the country, but only 3.8 million people have received both injections.