Weekly COVID deaths in U.S. at an all-time low

Thank you, vaccines.

With more Americans getting vaccinated against COVID-19, the United States is reporting its lowest number of coronavirus deaths in the last 14 months.

For the week ending May 16, 4,165 Americans died from COVID-19. The only week that had better numbers was at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 when the weekly death toll for one week was 2,293 people.

In January of this year, when the COVID-19 crisis was at its worst, over 3,000 people died a day for most of the month.

As of Sunday, 37% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. A total of 47% of Americans have received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Wilmer Moro, left, watches as his son Wilmer Moro, 13, poses for a photo with his vaccination sticker after being inoculated with the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Mount Sinai South Nassau Vaxmobile parked at the De La Salle School, Friday, May 14, in Freeport, N.Y. (Mary Altaffer/)

Among the 50 states, New Hampshire is leading the charge with 85% of its residents receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Vermont and Massachusetts follow with 65% and 62% of their respective populations being partially vaccinated.

In the realm of cases, the U.S. weekly new case number dropped 20% to 233,000 which is the lowest since last June, according to Reuters. Just four states displayed a rise in new cases.

Additionally, nationwide hospitalizations continue to fall with the last week showing that new hospitalizations decreased 12% marking the fourth week in a row of lowering hospitalized patients.