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Coronavirus cases continue to fall across DC region

However, local officials are asking the public to use caution in the weeks ahead.

WASHINGTON — Coronavirus cases continue to fall across the D.C. region.

Over the holiday season, the D.C. region experienced its highest number of COVID cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The outbreak coincided with the surge of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in local communities.

But now, data from several health departments shows the region's latest COVID peak appears to be over.

In Virginia, the testing positivity rate has fallen from about 37% on Jan. 7, to a current rate of 29%, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

In Maryland, the number of ICU and acute care hospital beds being used for COVID has also fallen by more than a third in two weeks.

Meanwhile, in the District, Mayor Muriel Bowser recently decided to extend both the District's indoor mask mandate and the limited public health emergency order.

The former will now end Feb. 28. It was originally scheduled to end Jan. 31. Bowser's order noted D.C.'s current case rate is still a little higher now than when the mask mandate went into effect Dec. 20.

Other local leaders are also asking the public to use caution in the weeks that follow as well.

While cases continue to fall in Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said other variants could always be on the way.

"I think we're getting used to this," he said. "That every time we think we're at the end of the tunnel, the end of the tunnel moves."

Elrich did have more good news, however. He said the stress placed on hospital systems there has eased over the last few weeks.

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