There are some hopeful trends out there: Average of daily new coronavirus cases below 90K for first time since November

The seven-day average number of coronavirus cases reported in the U.S. has fallen below 90,000 for the first time since November.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day average as of Sunday was 87,845 cases.

The daily number of new coronavirus cases dropped below 100,000 last week, also for the first time since late November. The last time Johns Hopkins recorded fewer than 100,000 daily cases was on Nov. 2. Just under 87,000 cases were reported on Feb. 7.

But there are warning signs, too: The rise of new, more contagious variants threatens to reverse the recent progress and cause a new spike. The magnitude of that increase is not yet clear, and depends in part on how fast the US can vaccinate people and how well people follow precautions.