The daily coronavirus cases in the United States dropped to under 30,000 for the first time in nearly a year.
There were a reported 29,128 new coronavirus cases in the U.S. Thursday, along with 669 deaths. This was a drastic decrease from the 42,298 cases that were reported a week earlier.
June 22, 2020 was the last time COVID-19 cases were reported to be this low, according to The Wall Street Journal.
More than 3.4 million people have died and more than 166 million people have contracted the virus around the world.
The U.S. has averaged 32,256 new cases per day over the course of the past two weeks. Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi have reported weekly numbers that exceed the national two-week average.
Several southern states have seen relaxed COVID-19 restrictions in the last several weeks.
Around 40 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 49 percent received at least one dose but President Joe Biden has a target goal of 70 percent of Americans receiving the vaccine by Independence Day.
An average of 1.9 million vaccine doses have been administered each day over the past week, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data.
After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidelines, saying vaccinated individuals do not have to wear masks anymore in most settings, many businesses lifted their mask requirements for vaccinated individuals. However, they will not require proof of vaccination.
Oregon will mandate that businesses require that customers provide proof of vaccination in order to enter without a mask.