Experts offer varying explanations for recent drop in COVID-19 cases

In recent weeks, the rate of newly recorded COVID-19 infections has plummeted from coast to coast and the worst surge yet is finally relenting (Source: “Four reasons experts say coronavirus cases are dropping in the United States,” Washington Post, Feb. 14).

But scientists are split on why, exactly, it is happening.

Some point to the quickening pace of coronavirus vaccine administration, some say it’s because of the natural seasonal ebb of respiratory viruses and others chalk it up to social distancing measures.

And every explanation is appended with two significant caveats: The country is still in a bad place, continuing to notch more than 90,000 new cases every day, and recent progress could still be imperiled, either by new fast-spreading virus variants or by relaxed social distancing measures.

A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed the idea that Americans are now seeing the effect of their good behavior — not of increased vaccinations.

“I don’t think the vaccine is having much of an impact at all on case rates," Tom Frieden said in an interview Sunday on CNN. “It’s what we’re doing right: staying apart, wearing masks, not traveling, not mixing with others indoors.”