COVID-19's grip on the US is shrinking.

Just over 16,000 people are currently hospitalized with the virus, the lowest number since the start of the pandemic.

That's according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which adds that COVID patients in the ICU are decreasing as well.

According to the agency, just over 56,000 ICU beds are currently in use, about 1,900 of those beds are in use for COVID.

COVID hospitalizations peaked this January during the omicron variant surge.

Despite the drop in these hospitalizations, officials say many hospitals are still stressed partly because of staffing issues.

The centers for disease control and prevention says that since August 2020, more than 4.5 million people have been hospitalized for the virus.

More than a third of those patients were at least 70-years-old.