California, the country's former coronavirus hot spot, has made quite a turnaround -- it's gone from hosting the most COVID infections in the U.S. to boasting the country's lowest infection rate!
The state is currently reporting an average of 2,300 new cases and 68 deaths a day -- marking a dramatic drop from the holiday season, when California health officials were reporting 40,000 new cases and 500 deaths a day. The state has now surpassed Hawaii for having the lowest average number of cases per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University.
"It has been a success story for California to have gone from our, if you will, viral tsunami that happened after the back-to-back holiday season to where we are now,” says the University of California's Dr. Robert Kim-Farley.
This news comes as the U.S. government also announced it's lifting the national pause on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine...
Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 10 to 4 on the move Friday, saying the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the small risk of blood clots. Health officials found 15 cases of the unusual clots following the vaccine.
Check out more details on FOX 5 San Diego.