RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
As the country heads into the Memorial Day weekend, we are hearing something we haven t heard before a big national holiday in a very long time - optimism. The country finally looks like it s on the right track in the battle against the pandemic. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein is here to help us start this Friday with some good news. Hi, Rob.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: Let s start with the numbers. What do they say?
STEIN: Yeah. So, you know, everything is going in the right direction and has been for some time now. You know, the number of people catching the virus every day has been tumbling steadily for more than a month. The seven-day average number of infections has plummeted from nearly 68,000 on April 18 to less than 22,000 today. That s the lowest it s been in almost a year. And the number of people getting so sick they re ending up in the hospital has also dropped; so has the number of people dying. That s plunged below 500 a
Democrats are rejecting the GOP's infrastructure counter-proposal. Biden ordered an investigation into the coronavirus origins. And, travel is up for Memorial Day as pandemic restrictions ease.
The White House says a new counteroffer from Senate Republicans on funding for roads and bridges is encouraging, but there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome before reaching a deal.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped tracking every case that occurs when a COVID-19 vaccine fails to protect someone. Instead, the CDC is focusing on people who get very sick or die. It s a controversial decision. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein has the story.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: The COVID-19 vaccines are very effective, but they re not perfect. People can still sometimes get infected. It s rare, but the CDC says more than 10,000 fully vaccinated people have still caught the virus. So the CDC has been tracking these so-called breakthrough infections to find out more about them, but the CDC recently decided to concentrate on people who are so sick they end up in the hospital or die. Here s CDC director Rochelle Walensky at a recent briefing.
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