Massachusetts health officials on Friday reported 17 more people have died from the coronavirus and 290 new cases as trends remain steady in the state even while case counts continue to increase across the country.
The 17 new coronavirus deaths bring the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 8,149, the state Department of Public Health announced. The three-day average of coronavirus daily deaths has dropped from 161 at the start of May to 17 now.
The state has logged 109,628 cases of the highly contagious disease, an increase of 212 confirmed cases since Thursday and 78 probable cases. Of the 109,628 total cases, at least 93,157 people have recovered, according to DPH’s weekly public health report.
Coronavirus hospitalizations went down by 25 patients, bringing the state’s COVID-19 hospitalization total to 656. Overall, the statewide three-day hospitalization total has declined by 80% since April 15.
There are 106 coronavirus patients in the ICU, and 55 are currently intubated.
The highest peak of Massachusetts coronavirus hospitalizations was 3,965 on April 21. The three-day average of the number of coronavirus hospitalizations has gone from 3,707 on May 1 to 699 now.
An additional 11,444 molecular tests have brought the state’s total to 1,105,013 tests. The seven-day weighted average of the state’s positive test rate has declined from 16.6% on May 1 to 1.8% now.
Middlesex County has the most confirmed cases in Massachusetts with 24,083 cases, followed by Suffolk County with 19,936 cases.
The state reported 23,532 residents and health care workers at long-term care facilities have now contracted the virus, with 369 facilities reporting at least one case of COVID-19.
Of the state’s 8,149 total coronavirus deaths, 5,152 are connected to long-term care facilities.
The United States is currently in the midst of a coronavirus spike that is the largest since the pandemic began in terms of case count.
There are more than 2.7 million cases of coronavirus in the U.S. with single-day spikes reaching up to 50,000 cases, which are mostly concentrated in the South and West.
More than 129,000 people have died in the U.S. and 781,000 have recovered.
The worldwide coronavirus case count is more than 10.9 million cases with 523,000 deaths and 5.7 million recoveries.