Coronavirus cases are plummeting across the D.C. region, as jurisdictions look towards returning to a somewhat normal summer.

In the past week, D.C. has seen a 44% decline in new cases, Maryland a 32% decline, and Virginia a 28% decline, according to the Washington Post’s regional coronavirus tracker. Collectively, the region reported a seven-day daily case average of 1,321 today – the lowest daily case average since late September. For much of July and August, that metric stayed above 1,500, and during the devastating winter surge, soared to more than 8,400.

The plummeting case counts come as the region’s leaders rollback — and in some cases do away with completely — pandemic era restrictions on businesses and gatherings, update outdoor mask mandates, and

On Monday, D.C. recorded a daily case rate per 100,000 residents of 6.6 — a number not recorded since October, and a nearly 86% drop from the region’s peak daily case rate of 46 in January. Since April 20, D.C.’s daily case rate has stayed in the “moderate community spread” zone, after remaining in the higher “substantial” zone for most of the winter and spring. Now, the city is creeping towards the “minimal community spread” zone.  The city’s test positivity rate (meaning the percentage of positive results out of COVID-19 tests conducted) as of May 6 was 3.2%. That’s well below the World Health Organization’s recommended 5% for any reopening efforts.

Hospitalizations and deaths from the virus are also decreasing. As of May 8, the city recorded that 5.3% of hospitalizations in the city were due to the coronavirus. That metric needs to be below 5% to be considered “sufficient” capacity — a zone the city hasn’t stayed in since the fall. And for most of March and April, the average number of daily deaths from the virus in the city has stayed between zero and two. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,110 residents have died from the virus.

As for the city’s vaccination efforts: 37.8% of residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 23.9% of residents are fully vaccinated. For months, D.C. officials named limited supply as the main constraint on the city’s vaccine progress — but the gap between supply and demand is moving towards an equilibrium. The city decommissioned its pre-registration system for vaccine appointments, and instead created more walk-up sites (and even incentivized residents with free beer).

With case rates falling off and vaccines becoming more widely available, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced today that most coronavirus capacity limits will lift on May 21, with the remainder ending on June 11.

“It appears we are crushing the virus,” DC health director LaQuandra Nesbitt said at today’s press conference announcing the news.

Regionally, Maryland and Virginia are seeing similar trends in their COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Maryland’s statewide daily case rate per 100,000 residents has been steadily dropping since a slight uptick in the first half of April. On May 9, Maryland recorded an average case rate of 9.2 for the first time since October, and the state’s positivity rate has been dropping below 5% since late April. On Monday, a total of 798 people were hospitalized due to coronavirus in the state — less than half of the number of recorded patients during the winter surge. During most of November, December, January, and February, more than 20 people were dying per day of coronavirus in Maryland. So far in May, those daily death tolls have stayed below 16.

In the D.C. suburb of Montgomery County, which has generally taken a more conservative approach to reopening compared to Gov. Larry Hogan, the daily case rate per 100,000 residents dropped below 4 on Monday for the first time since March 2020. (During the January surge, Montgomery County’s daily case rate neared 50.) And in Prince George’s County, the jurisdiction with the most coronavirus cases recorded in the state, the case rate per 100,000 residents dropped to 9.46.

As of today, more than 2,300,000 people in Maryland were fully vaccinated  — 39% of the population — and the state has administered more than half a million doses.

Virginia’s seven-day average of new cases dropped to 723 on Monday, the lowest average recorded in the commonwealth since last summer. During the worst of the pandemic in Virginia, the commonwealth recorded an average of nearly 6,000 new cases a day.

Northern Virginia, which at points over the past year became a hotspot for the virus in the commonwealth, also reported its lowest average daily case count since October on Monday.

Deaths and hospitalizations have also declined in Virginia, and these trends, in combination with decreasing case counts, prompted Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement last week that the state could ease most of its restrictions by June 15, barring no drastic changes in the coronavirus numbers. Virginia is also poised to relax some coronavirus restriction on May 15, allowing up to 100 people at indoor gatherings and 250 people at outdoor gatherings. Entertainment venues will be able to operate at 50% capacity indoors, up to 1,000 people, and 50% outdoors with no cap.

Virginia has administered more than 6,700,000 doses of the vaccine so far, and roughly four million Virginians (or about 50% of the state’s total population) have received at least one dose of the vaccine.