as christmas gatherings hit the rear view the daily average of new covid cases and hospitalizations are holding flat while deaths fell below the 400 mark for the first time in two weeks the sevenday average of new cases ticked up to 67215 on tuesday from 66077 on monday and has edged up just 2 over the past two weeks according to a new york times tracker covidrelated hospitalizations slipped to 39880 from 40146 on monday but was unchanged from two weeks ago meanwhile deaths fell to 388 the lowest number since dec 15 down from 426 on monday and down 18 from two weeks ago on a worrisome note the number of covidrelated patients in intensive care units icus rose 10 in two weeks to 4920 while the covid test positivity rate climbed to a fourmonth high of 14 rising testpositivity rates suggest many new covid cares are not being reported as many who test at home don’t submit results to health officials