While the U.S.’s COVID-19 death toll is still in thousands per day, there is reason for some optimism, according to The New York Times. Over the last three weeks, cases and positivity rate have trended downward, from a peak of Jan. 8, according to the Times’s analysis. Hospitalizations have also gone down from a peak of Jan. 6, the Times reported. With the CDC warning that a faster-spreading variant of the virus could become the dominant strain in the U.S. by spring, it remains to be seen how long this trend will last.