America's COVID Death Rate Drops to Record Low as Cases Reach Pandemic High

The raging Omicron variant has pushed COVID-19 cases to record highs in the U.S., but America's case fatality rate has dipped to 1.39 percent, its lowest mark since the first wave of cases struck in March 2020.

1, America's case fatality ratio dropped below 1.5 percent for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

It's an imperfect measurement, as it doesn't factor in the true number of cases or deaths, especially in a fluid situation like the COVID-19 pandemic.

If one aspect of the ratio was to be underreported, he suspected it would be cases because there's a "pretty good system" for reporting COVID-19 deaths whereas cases could go undetected if a person is asymptomatic or only has mild symptoms.

At the height of the pandemic, no one was vaccinated, and last January, when fewer than 2 million Americans were fully vaccinated, the case fatality ratio was at 1.7 percent.

In September, when the mortality rate had dropped to 1.6 percent, he told Newsweek deaths can lag weeks after cases start to rise because of the nature of the virus.

Increases in people getting their booster dose could help keep America's case fatality ratio low