The U.S. is reporting about 84,000 new cases per day on average, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, down from a pandemic high of more than 800,000 daily cases on Jan. 15. And the decline is widespread across the nation, with average daily cases down by at least 40% in all U.S. regions over the past two weeks, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data.

Biden condemned Putin’s moves against Ukraine and declared it unequivocally as “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.” This first round of sanctions include “full blocking” on two Russian banks and “comprehensive sanctions” on Russian debt, the president said.

“These have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners and we’ll continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates,” according to Biden. “We’re implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions – VEB and their military bank. We’re implementing comprehensive sanctions on Russian’s sovereign debt. That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing.”

Biden described Russia’s decision to recognize the two separatist-controlled Ukrainian territories plainly, saying that the country had essentially “announced it is carving out a big chunk of Ukraine.”