DIANA MERCHANT self-tests for COVID-19 at a No Cost COVID-19 Drive-Through testing provided the GUARDaHEART Foundation at the Guirado Park in Whittier, Calif., last month. With the brutal omicron wave rapidly easing its grip, new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. are falling in 49 of the 50 states. AP PHOTO/DAMIAN DOVARGANES
New cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. are falling in at least 49 of 50 states as omicron rapidly loosens its grip, even as the nation's death toll closes in on another bleak round number: 900,000. The number of lives lost to the pandemic in the U.S. stood at about 899,000 Friday afternoon, with deaths…