MA Town-By-Town COVID-19: Infection Rates Rise In 143 Communities

MASSACHUSETTS — The coronavirus positive test rate remained below 2 percent in Massachusetts, but started heading in the wrong direction again, according to the latest Massachusetts Department of Public Health data released Thursday.

The seven-day positive test rate increased from 1.59 percent last week to 1.99 percent. Positivity rates are still much lower than they were at the peak of the omicron wave in January, but some health experts are beginning to notice some troubling signs.

First, "stealth omicron," a variant within a variant known as BA.2, has made its way to the United States. Second, an extra-contagious delta-omicron hybrid, commonly called "deltacron," may soon push up U.S. cases. Also, COVID-19 vaccines in general don't fend off BA.2 as well as earlier variants, but do offer strong protection against severe COVID-19 illness, according to the CDC.

Scientists are keeping an eye on deltracron, which shows how wily the coronavirus can be. Dr. Eric Topol, the head of Scripps Research Translational Institute, told The Associated Press a deltacron wave is "inevitable," especially now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted and Americans are returning maskless to restaurants, bars, sporting events and other indoor activities.

Still, most other key COVID-19 metrics, including deaths and hospitalizations, declined in Massachusetts.

But despite most coronavirus metrics statewide continuing to head in the right direction, infection rates rose in more than 100 Massachusetts communities. In Massachusetts, case counts dropped in 143 communities, stayed the same in 52 and rose in 141.

The trend was similar with the positivity rate. With that, 117 communities saw it decrease, 62 saw no change and 157 saw it rise.

The Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 1,086 new coronavirus cases, five deaths and 4,521 vaccine doses administered.

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 225.1, down from 234.1 the week before.

The weekly average case count was 624.7 daily cases, up from 481.1 a week before. At the early January peak of the omicron surge, the state reported more than 23,000 average daily cases.

There were 4.8 deaths per day over the last week, down from 7.6 a week ago.

The latest vaccine report showed the number of fully vaccinated residents rose to about 5.32 million. Booster doses were given to about 2.91 million residents.

Community-Level Data

How to use this maps Zoom in on the map below, 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 represent if a community's case counts are decreasing, staying the same, or increasing. Blue dots mean a community has a lower case count from the previous week. Yellow means they stayed the same, and red means higher.

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.

The data also did not include 1,887 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in. Vaccination rates in some communities, such as Brookline, Buckland and Lincoln, may be skewed by reporting issues, such as federal facilities or misalignment between ZIP code and municipal boundaries.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of 234 hospitalized patients, 39 were in intensive care Wednesday, up 10 from a week before.

According to the Department of Public Health, 33 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 percent of the state's hospitalized patients on Wednesday were vaccinated.

To date, there have been 1,557,249 confirmed cases and 18,960 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

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The state reported 55,435 new tests Thursday, bringing the total administered to 42.05 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.

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