PROVIDENCE, R.I. – So far, the death toll of COVID-19 in the United States has risen past 440,000, at an average of 3,150 deaths per day. Not all is doom and gloom, as the number of cases in every state has begun to drop below 100,000 for the first time in two months. Vaccinations are now also picking up the pace, ever since their introduction in mid-December, and have been administered to 32.2 million people according to the Centers for Disease Control. This increase mainly comes after President Joe Biden’s inauguration; however Dr. Philip Landrigan, an epidemiologist at Boston College, says these vaccines aren’t the primary cause for the drop. He goes on to say the crisis has become increasingly “depoliticized”, meaning more people have come to grips with the threat and how they contribute to slowing down the virus. 

(Compiled from Associated Press News for the Guilford Voyager by Anthony Paez, original reporting by Michael Kunzelman and Michelle Smith