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The decline in Covid-19 fatalities is exceeding expectations in the U.S., and virus modelers are revising forecasts to reflect a more optimistic outlook heading into March. The country is expected to have about 7,922 such deaths in the week ending March 20, the lowest since the first week of November, according to the University of Massachusetts’ Reich Lab Covid-19 Forecast Hub, which issued a 28-day forecast on Tuesday based on dozens of independent models. (Levin, 2/23)

Global deaths from the coronavirus fell by 20 percent last week compared with the one before, the World Health Organization said in a statement, part of a wider trend that also includes a decline in cases worldwide. The downturn in both cases and deaths follows a winter surge in infections but also has coincided with an increase in vaccinations, particularly in the United States and Europe. (Cunningham, 2/24)

Coronavirus infections across the US are still on the way down and more Americans are getting their vaccinations -- but variants could cause complications in the coming weeks. Several experts predicted Tuesday the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant that was first detected in the UK is likely to fuel another surge of cases in just a matter of weeks. (Maxouris, 2/24)

A first in-state case of a highly transmissible coronavirus variant originally traced back to Brazil has been discovered in Alaska. The case was first discovered on Tuesday in a specimen collected from a person in Anchorage who developed COVID-19 symptoms earlier this month and had no known travel history, a state public health official told the Daily News. It is the sixth case of the P.1 variant to be discovered so far in the United States, making Alaska one of just five U.S. states with a known case of this particular variant. (Annie Berman, 2/23)

A Virginia Beach-based Navy sailor has died of COVID-19, the service said Tuesday, marking the military’s 23rd death during the pandemic. The sailor, who was assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, died Monday after testing positive for the virus Friday and being admitted to a civilian hospital in Norfolk, Va., Saturday, the Navy said in a statement. (Kheel, 2/23)

A 10-year-old boy in Michigan has undergone four amputations of his hands and legs after a rare bout of a serious coronavirus-related inflammatory condition. Dae'Shun Jamison was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), and had his right leg amputated in early February at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a spokesperson for Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, where the boy entered rehabilitation and recovery, confirmed to Fox News. The child was transferred back to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital on Monday for amputations of both hands and his left leg. (Rivas, 2/23)

Children's hospitals across the country say they're still seeing a surge of kids suffering from a serious illness that typically follows coronavirus infections. ... Even as coronavirus hospitalizations decline overall, children's hospitals say they're still seeing large numbers of kids suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome, commonly known MIS-C, — a serious illness that generally occurs several weeks after a child is infected with the coronavirus. (Owens and McGhee, 2/24)

On Monday, the U.S. reached a heartbreaking 500,000 deaths from COVID-19. But widespread death from COVID-19 isn't necessarily inevitable. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that some countries have had few cases and fewer deaths per capita. The U.S. has had 152 deaths per 100,000 people, for example, versus .03 in Burundi and .04 in Taiwan. There are many reasons for these differences among countries, but a study in The Lancet Planetary Health published last month suggests that a key factor may be cultural. (Kritz, 2/23)