MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus: Average Case Count Below 10K

MASSACHUSETTS — Most coronavirus metrics continued to show Massachusetts has turned the corner on the omicron wave in the latest Department of Public Health data released Thursday.

The 7-day average case count fell below 10,000 for the first time in 2022.

Even the town-by-town report, which covers a two-week period, showed falling positive rates in nearly half the state's communities. The more recent statewide positive rate, case count and hospitalization rate all showed a virus on the decline.

Last week, over 90 percent of communities reported rising positive rates. In this week's report, just 53 percent reported rising rates.

The seven-day average positive rate fell to 15.03 percent, down from the peak of 23.02 percent on Jan. 5, although it remains higher than at any other point since the initial wave in spring, 2020.

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The Department of Public Health reported 14,384 new coronavirus cases, 86 deaths and 31,190 vaccine doses administered Thursday.

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 3,200.1, up from 2,870.6 a week prior. But the daily hospitalization count has gradually declined from a peak on Jan. 14.

The weekly average case count was 9,403.0 daily cases, up from 5,325.7 a month prior but down from the peak of 23,071.3 on Jan. 8.

The weekly average positive-test rate fell from 20.18 percent to 15.03 percent over the last week.

There were 48.8 deaths per day over the last week, up from 47.5 a week ago.

Vaccines

The latest vaccine report shows the number of residents who are fully vaccinated has risen to 5.17 million. Booster doses have been given to 2.55 million residents.

Over three-quarters of the state's population, 75.9 percent, is fully vaccinated, but some communities lag behind, according to state data. Seven communities continue to report that fewer than half their residents are even partially vaccinated. Compare that with the more than 90 percent of residents fully vaccinated in 31 cities and towns, level from last week's report.

In 91 communities, more than half of residents have received a booster shot.

Community-Level Data

How to use this map: Zoom in on the map below and click on a pin to see that community's coronavirus vaccination rates. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus vaccination data in the spreadsheet we used to create this map.

Colors reflect the percentage of the population fully vaccinated, from under 50 percent, red, to more than 70 percent, green. The state did not report vaccination numbers for the one gray community. Some communities are grouped together for the purpose of vaccination data.


Note: For dozens of communities, up to 30 vaccinations may be missing from the data, as the state does not report totals for demographic subgroups with fewer than 30 vaccinated. No vaccination data is available for one community with a particularly low population: Gosnold.

The data also does not include 2,489 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of 3,144 hospitalized patients, there were 462 patients in intensive care Wednesday, down 22 from a week prior.

According to a new state metric introduced Thursday, just over half of the state's coronavirus hospitalizations over the last week were "primarily" hospitalized for the virus, versus "incidental" cases who tested positive while hospitalized for another erason.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 154 — or 43.9 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 187 — or 53,3 percent — of the communities. It held steady in the remaining 10. Over 62 percent of communities reported rising case counts.

All but one community reported positive test rates higher than 2 percent during the past two weeks, including 189 with positive rates over 20 percent.

Statewide, there were 278.9 average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks, up from 267.3 in last week's report.

To date, there have been 1,404,214 cases and 20,782 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

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The state reported 127,255 new tests Friday, bringing the total administered to 28.2 million.

The data includes coronavirus cases for all Massachusetts communities, except for those with populations under 50,000 and where there are fewer than five cases. The department said the stipulation was designed to protect the privacy of patients in those towns and cities.

The state releases town-by-town testing data every Thursday, including the number of people tested, the testing rate, the positive test rate, cases and infection rates.

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This article originally appeared on the Across Massachusetts Patch