A handful of people who attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night have tested positive for COVID, the New York Times reported, including Steve Herman, a chief national correspondent for Voice of America, who is reported to have shaken hands with President Joe Biden. There were concerns ahead of the event that it would become a spreader event, and all attendees had to submit proof of vaccination and a same-day negative test. COVID cases continue to rise across the U.S. after their steep decline early in the year, driven by the BA.2 variant of omicron, and two other subvariants that appear to be even more infectious. The two, named BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1, were highlighted by health officials in New York State recently. The U.S. is averaging 62,428 cases a day, up 50% from two weeks ago. The country is averaging 17,532 hospitalizations a day, up 18% from two weeks ago, but still close to the lowest since the first weeks of the pandemic. The daily death toll has fallen below 400 to 340 on average.
On a global basis, total cases are now above 514.9 million. Total deaths are above 6.24 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S. still leading the way with 81.5 million cases and 994,748 deaths.
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