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After weeks of trending downward, cases of COVID-19 in the United States appear to be sticking at an elevated level, according to CNBC.

The good news: Over the past week, new COVID-19 infections have fallen to an average of just over 74,000 per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s a 57% decrease in cases since the peak of the COVID’s delta wave, which hit an average of 172,500 new cases per day back in mid-September.

The bad news:  After falling significantly over the last couple of months, the caseload appears to have plateaued. For nearly three weeks, average infections per day have rested between 70,000 and 75,000, keeping caseloads high.

• Meanwhile, states are reporting 1,200 deaths per day—a number that is up 1% since a week ago.

A geographic shift: “The Midwest is now the region with the highest rate of daily new cases per capita, with the recent increase driven by states like Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin . . . Population-adjusted cases are next highest in the West, where New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona have all seen increases of 15% or greater over the last 14 days.”

• “Cases have fallen most sharply in the South, where the delta wave hit earliest and hardest over the summer, with average daily infections in the region down by about 84% from peak levels and continuing to fall.”