MA Town-By-Town COVID-19: Case Rates Down In 84% Of Communities

MASSACHUSETTS — For the first time since late March, all key coronavirus metrics statewide started to head in the right direction again, according to data released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Thursday.

Coronavirus infection rates in Massachusetts continued declining over the last two weeks, as have positive test rates, hospitalizations and deaths.

COVID-19 infection rates rose in 181 Massachusetts communities last week, but on Thursday, state data showed a significant improvement, with just 40 cities and towns seeing rates increase. On Thursday, Massachusetts also saw 283 communities with decreasing COVID-19 rates and 13 with no change.

According to state COVID-19 data, the seven-day positive test rate also decreased from 8.32 percent last week to 7.29 percent Thursday. In Massachusetts, 83 communities saw the rate increase, 24 had no change, and 229 saw it drop, the public health department said.

The average hospitalizations went from 817.3 last week to 711.1. As of Wednesday, 696 Massachusetts residents were hospitalized with COVID-19.

As for deaths, there were 8.1 deaths per day over the last week, down from 10.6 the prior week.

The Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 2,561 new coronavirus cases, 24 deaths and 10,439 vaccine doses administered.

The weekly average case count was 1,450.3 daily cases, down from 2,246 a week before. At the early January peak of the omicron surge, the state reported more than 23,000 average daily cases.

The latest state vaccine report showed the number of fully vaccinated residents rose to about 5.39 million. Booster doses were given to about 3.07 million residents.

Community-Level Data

To use this map, zoom in and click on a pin to see that community's coronavirus vaccination rate or case numbers. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus data here

Colors on the map represented if a community's case counts were decreasing, staying the same, or increasing. Blue dots meant a community had a lower case count from the previous week. Yellow meant they stayed the same, and red meant higher.

The data also did not include 1,696 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of the 696 hospitalized patients, 80 were in intensive care Wednesday, down one from a week before, state health officials said.

According to the Department of Public Health, 35 percent 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 reason. Sixty-four percent of the state's hospitalized patients on Wednesday were vaccinated.

To date, there have been 1,722,244 confirmed cases and 19,462 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch.

The state reported 45,874 new tests Thursday, bringing the total administered to more than 45.22 million.

The data included coronavirus cases for all Massachusetts communities, except for those with populations under 50,000 and those with 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.

Don't miss updates about precautions in your area as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.