OVERVIEW: US case counts fall; vaccine trials underway for small children

'New normal' may be near as US case counts fall; vaccine trials underway for small children; 200,000 deaths in India: Live COVID-19 updates India crossed a bleak milestone Wednesday of 200,000 people lost to the coronavirus. In the US, infections are falling. Latest COVID-19 news. John Bacon and Elinor Aspegren, USA TODAY YahooNews

Exactly one year after the U.S. passed 1 million coronavirus cases, the nation has reported a staggering total of more than 32 million infections. But the latest numbers also show the U.S. pandemic could finally be easing, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Potential surges may have collapsed in nearly all states, a USA TODAY analysis of the data shows. National case-count leaders New York, Michigan and now Florida all have reported falling case counts. But the threat has also fallen in most states with smaller populations.

"We should be mostly heading down toward a new normal," tweeted Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of Brown University's school of public health, noting that most U.S. adults are now at least partially vaccinated. Clinical trials are underway for vaccinating children as young as 6 months in age.

Florida, which still leads the nation in new cases, has seen those case counts fall 12% from the previous week. It only became the leader because counts in Michigan have plunged more than 36% from earlier this month.

Still, three states seem to be struggling with persistently rising cases: Colorado and Washington, where cases have more than doubled since their lulls in March, and Oregon, where cases are nearly 3 1/2 times higher than they were in March. Deaths have been increasing in those states, too, with 135 deaths reported in the week ending Tuesday compared with 78 deaths in the week ending March 27.

Those increases and the states' populations are too small to keep national tallies high. The United States is now reporting fewer deaths than it did before the fall surge started, averaging fewer than 700 deaths per day. The United States is still reporting about 376,000 cases per week, but that number has fallen about 24.5% in less than two weeks.

In other developments:

►Children as young a 6 months old are now taking part in trials studying the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, ABC News reports. Dr. Zinaida Good, a research fellow at the Stanford cancer center, enrolled both her sons in Stanford Hospital’s Pfizer trial. Her son Soren, 7 months old, received his first shot last week and is doing well, she said. ...

►Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said rising COVID-19 hospitalizations threaten to overwhelm doctors and she is taking steps that will impose restrictions in 15 counties, including a ban on indoor restaurant dining. ...

►As the federal government works to make COVID-19 vaccines available to all Americans, lawmakers in more than 40 states have introduced legislation that would forbid mandates requiring people to get vaccinated.

 -- Public health experts say door-to-door vaccination outreach to underserved neighborhoods is needed to protect vulnerable communities of color who have suffered disproportionate deaths and hospitalizations from COVID-19. Lack of transportation, trouble taking time off work and other logistical challenges make it complicated to get to the doctor or clinic for a shot.

“When we’re talking about going into the neighborhoods, we’re talking about bringing health care services to patients where they are,” said New Orleans nurse Sophia Thomas. “If we didn’t, the likelihood that they would be able to get the services, get the vaccines, is limited.” ...