Massachusetts health officials on Wednesday reported 16 new coronavirus deaths and 518 new cases, as the average positive test rate again rose to 1.3%.
The 518 new cases comes in the wake of some recent days of 700-plus cases — the highest numbers since the spring.
The 16 new coronavirus deaths and one probable coronavirus death bring the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 9,647, the state Department of Public Health said. The three-day average of coronavirus daily deaths has dropped from a peak of 161 in May to 13 now.
The state has logged 140,992 cases of the highly contagious disease, an increase of 518 confirmed cases and 62 probable cases since Tuesday. Of the 140,992 total cases, at least 118,892 people have recovered.
The daily percentage of tested individuals who are positive again eclipsed 3%. That figure at the start of September was between 1% and 2%, but the rate was 3.2% on Sunday, 3.9% on Monday and 4.3% on Tuesday — the most recent day of available data.
The seven-day weighted average of the state’s positive test rate again increased from 1.2% on Tuesday to 1.3% on Wednesday.
Coronavirus hospitalizations went down by 15 patients, bringing the state’s COVID-19 hospitalization total to 499.
The highest peak of Massachusetts’ coronavirus hospitalizations was 3,965 on April 21. The three-day average of coronavirus hospitalizations has jumped from 308 three weeks ago to 505 now.
There are 88 patients in the ICU, and 28 patients are currently intubated.
An additional 13,057 tests have brought the state’s total to more than 4.8 million tests.
The state reported 25,224 residents and health care workers at long-term care facilities have now contracted the virus.
Of the state’s 9,647 total coronavirus deaths, 6,219 are connected to long-term care facilities.
More than 216,000 Americans have died. The country’s death toll is the highest in the world, which eclipsed 1 million deaths last week worldwide.
The U.S. has recorded more than 7.8 million coronavirus cases — also the most in the world. More than 3.1 million people have recovered.
