COVID-19 trends offer hope the pandemic will end in 2023

Editor's Note

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show 1,706 COVID-19 deaths for the week ending March 15, the lowest number since March 25, 2020, according to the March 20 US News & World Report.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations also continue to drop, with weekly infections at their lowest since the summer of 2021. These numbers could be significantly higher, however, because of widespread use of home tests.

The main COVID-19 strain in the US is now Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, with no other strain posing a challenge. The trends are leading experts to hope that the pandemic will end in 2023, the report says.