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Data: CSSE Johns Hopkins University; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Coronavirus infections continue to plummet across the U.S.

Why it matters: Experts have warned many times over the past year that it wouldn’t be safe to rush back into pre-pandemic life without containing the virus. Now, though, the U.S. is finally containing the virus.

By the numbers: The U.S. averaged about 30,000 cases per day over the past week.

  • The progress is happening remarkably fast, and across the board.
  • It was just last week that average daily cases dropped below 40,000, for the first time in months. This week’s figures are a 20% improvement over last week.
  • 39 states saw their caseloads improve over the past week.
  • Alabama showed an increase in new cases, although the state had some unusual reporting glitches this week.
  • Technically, cases also increased in Washington, D.C., but it’s no cause for alarm: The District has fewer new cases per day (about 48, on average) than any state.

What’s next: This is all happening because of the vaccines. The more people get vaccinated, the better it’ll get.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.