U.S. new COVID cases down 21% in past week

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The United States reported a 21% drop in new cases of COVID-19 last week, as all but one state reported declines in new infections, and the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals also fell.

It's the biggest decline in the past year, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county reports.

New Hampshire is the only state where cases rose. In California, a hotspot where hospitals have been overwhelmed by the number of patients, new cases fell 32% in the past week.

COVID-19 deaths fell by roughly six and a half percent last week to about 21,600 across the country, with Arizona, Alabama and New Mexico having the highest per capita death rates.

Nearly 419,000 people have died from the virus all together.

The average number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals fell 7.5% from the previous week, the biggest one-week drop on a percentage basis since August.

Nationally, about 9% of tests of tests came back positive for the virus, down from 11.0% the prior week.