More than 00,000 people have died from coronavirus in D.C., Maryland and Virginia

Case rates dropped to record lows in the summer before surging again in the fall, driven in large part by relaxed restrictions on gatherings and the spread of the delta variant, largely among pockets of unvaccinated people. They plateaued in September — a testament to the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines, experts say — before ticking up again in early November.

But after the Christmas holiday, the region saw its highest seven-day averages of new cases at any point since the pandemic began in early 2020, fueled in part by the omicron variant.

Coronavirus-related deaths, which often lag caseloads by several weeks, are starting to decline after having sharply ticked up at the beginning of the year. In early March, D.C. announced it switched to weekly reporting of coronavirus cases and deaths, instead of daily reporting, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new framework for estimating the amount of coronavirus in a community.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) lifted the city’s indoor mask mandate and the city’s requirement that patrons of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, theaters, gyms and many other indoor businesses show proof of vaccination to enter. There is no statewide mask mandate in Virginia or Maryland, and although Maryland jurisdictions can opt for their own mandates, counties including Montgomery and Prince George’s have lifted them.

[U.S. coronavirus cases and state maps: Tracking cases, deaths]

Teachers have been vaccinated in many places, and most school districts resumed in-person classes in the fall, though debate over stringent quarantine policies, rapid testing and vaccine mandates continued amid virus outbreaks at schools.

Reported cases per 100,000 residents by county (7-day average)

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DeathsCases

Adj. for populationTotals

Daily averageCumulative

Counties/cities with highest rates of reported cases

Virginia, Maryland and D.C. are no longer facing more demand for vaccine doses than available supply. Each jurisdiction has shifted from an appointment-based system to extensive outreach and walk-in vaccination options. Counties have started to bridge the large racial disparities among those vaccinated, though significant gaps persist in who is opting for booster doses, which experts say are essential to address waning immunity.

[Tracking coronavirus vaccinations: Doses and people vaccinated by state]

In April 2021, as the supply of doses increased, eligibility opened to everyone 16 and older in D.C. and across the country. In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds, prompting a surge of vaccinations among younger adolescents, and in early November, the agency expanded eligibility to those ages 5 to 11.

Hospitalizations have largely stabilized after surging in the region, with D.C. in late December recording the highest number of suspected and confirmed covid-19 inpatients during the pandemic. The uptick, combined with a shortage of health-care staffers, prompted some hospitals in the region to say they were overwhelmed.

Intensive-care hospitalizations have fallen after rising during the omicron surge.