The headline statistic people *should* pay attention to.. Percentage deaths of hospitalizations.

Headline statistics about a rising number of cases do not tell us much about the number of COVID-19 infections, since most infected people are never tested. Case numbers tell us more about the rapidly rising number of tests in the U.S. -- which is not happening in most other countries.

Headline statistics about the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations do not tell us much about the seriousness of those cases (though emergency or ICU admissions may be indirectly relevant). If the average age of those being hospitalized is falling and/or the quality of hospital therapies is improving, the recent numbers are not comparable with those from, say, April.

As pointed out by economist Brian Wesbury, what ultimately matters is deaths. And COVID-19 deaths keep falling both in total numbers and as a percentage of those hospitalized with COVID-19.