Despite seeing declines around the United States in the number of new coronavirus cases, the nation has reached a new milestone: 500,000 deaths from the virus.

“So today, I ask all Americans to remember. Remember those we've lost and those we've left behind,” said President Joe Biden in a televised commemoration Monday night. “And as we all remember, I also ask us to act, remain vigilant, to stay socially distant, to mask up and to get vaccinated when its your turn.”

The death toll topped 500,000 Monday, all but matching the number of Americans killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined, according to the Associated Press.

Despite this, many places in the country, including Butler County, have been seeing declining COVID-19 figures.

On Monday, Butler County saw a single-digit addition of new confirmed COVID-19 cases and a second day without any deaths from the virus.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the county has had 8,813 residents test positive for COVID-19. The data showed that, on Sunday, the county added 17 confirmed cases and, on Monday, it added six cases.

The county has not seen a single-digit daily COVID-19 increase since Oct. 19. At that time, the county had only 1,219 residents who had tested positive and 27 deaths.

As of Monday, the county's death toll included 363 residents, but that number has not increased since Saturday, when three deaths were reported.

While the daily COVID-19 numbers have reached single digits in the county, Butler Memorial Hospital's inpatient numbers have risen slightly.

Butler Memorial reported having only nine inpatients with either a confirmed or suspected case on Feb. 17.

Butler Memorial reported Monday it had 14 inpatients, with four of them being treated in the intensive-care unit. The hospital also reported two deaths to the Department of Health, one Saturday and one Sunday.

Despite the new increases at the hospital, the county's average hospitalizations have decreased, according to the COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard.

The dashboard, which releases new data every Monday, tracks COVID-19 data by weeklong periods spanning from Friday to Thursday.

According to Monday's report, last week's average number of daily hospitalizations was 12.4, a decrease of 11.2.

The data also showed decreases in new confirmed cases, incidence rate and patients on a ventilator. However, the report also showed that an increase in the number of hospital emergency room visits have been because of COVID-19.

The county's percent positivity rate has also declined in recent weeks, and it did so again Monday. The county's percent positivity rate was 5.2%, reduced from 6.4% the week before.

The state has said in the past that the percent positivity rate, among many other data points, helps gauge the trajectory of the virus' spread.

As of Monday, the state's percent positivity rate was 6.5%, down from 8% from the week before.