Mandates Returning? Deaths from COVID begin to rise again

Deaths from COVID-19 are on the rise again after several weeks of upward ticking case rates sparked by Omicron variants.

Driving the news: The U.S. averaged roughly 365 daily deaths, up 7% from about 342 two weeks ago. That's still a fraction of where things stood several months ago when the daily average was in the thousands.

Yes, but: The increase in deaths comes after several weeks of declines. While increasingly transmissible Omicron variants have generally not appeared to cause more serious illness, some people are still dying.

• Waning immunity and low booster uptake has also meant a growing share of the deaths are among the vaccinated, officials warn.

By the numbers: There were roughly 77,000 new daily cases over the last week, up 44% from about 53,000 two weeks ago.