More Americans have died so far in 2021 from COVID-19, the illness caused by the CCP virus, than in all of 2020, according to figures released by Johns Hopkins University. As of Wednesday, the United States has seen 353,000 deaths this year, the university said. That surpasses the death toll of 352,000 in the 10 months following the first outbreaks of the disease in March 2020. About 44 million cases have been reported across the United States, according to the university, although that figure doesn’t account for individuals who contracted the virus but never tested for it. But back in the United States, cases, deaths, and hospitalizations have trended lower in recent days, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The seven-day average for cases on Oct. 5 was about 97,000, whereas the seven-day average on Sept. 28 was about 110,000, the CDC’s daily tracker reports. …