More than 78,000 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Massachusetts, DPH says
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is reporting that more than 78,000 people in the state have recovered from COVID-19 infections.
It is the first time that state health officials have released statewide recovery data in regard to the coronavirus.
The DPH reported Wednesday that 78,108 of the 97,964 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Massachusetts have been released from isolation as of June 3.
State health officials say people who had a confirmed case of COVID-19 and are no longer in isolation are considered to be recovered for the purposes of their reporting. As part of this definition, the DPH says coronavirus patients who have either been sick for 21 days or when 21 days have passed since they were tested are considered to be released from isolation.
As of Wednesday, 12,844 of the state's COVID-19 patients are in isolation, while 7,012 people have died from a confirmed case of the coronavirus.
The DPH is now reporting the number of probable COVID-19 cases and COVID-19-related deaths, in addition to its reporting of confirmed cases and deaths.
On Wednesday, the DPH reported 68 new COVID-19-related deaths across the state, bringing the state's total to 7,152 with 7,012 confirmed deaths and 140 probable deaths.
State health officials also reported 429 new COVID-19 cases on June 3, bringing the total to 101,592 with 97,964 confirmed cases and 3,628 probable cases.
The DPH said the addition of probable cases and deaths is part of an effort to continue to offer transparent reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click here to see a graphical look at COVID-19 data.
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State health officials also released its updated weekly quarantine report on Wednesday, which stated another 9,075 Massachusetts residents have completed COVID-19 monitoring this week.
The DPH said 64,210 Massachusetts residents have been subject to quarantine since the COVID-19 outbreak began and 55,429 people have completed quarantine as of June 3.
As of Tuesday night, the DPH said 8,781 people were currently undergoing monitoring and were under quarantine.
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The DPH has begun to include data on the number of daily and cumulative COVID-19 antibody tests performed.
State health officials said 47,414 COVID-19 antibody tests have been conducted in Massachusetts after 849 new antibody tests were conducted on June 3.
As of Wednesday, 614,133 molecular tests for the novel coronavirus have been conducted in the state after 8,362 new tests were reported.
While testing for the novel coronavirus is performed by nasal swab, antibody tests are blood tests used to determine if a person had COVID-19 in the past and now has antibodies to combat the virus.
"Because there are now sufficient antibody test results to show meaningful trends, the data are now being used to report on probable cases," reads a statement from state health officials. "Including probable cases will increase understanding about the impact of COVID-19 here in Massachusetts."