MA Town-By-Town COVID: Positivity Rate At Highest Since Late January

MASSACHUSETTS — Two of the state's four key COVID-19 metrics took a turn in the wrong direction, including positive test and hospitalization rates, according to data released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Thursday.

According to state COVID-19 data, the seven-day positive test rate increased from 5.85 percent last week to 7.29 percent Thursday. That's the highest the rate has been since the end of January, when the omicron wave was dying down.

At the community level, 216 Massachusetts cities and towns saw their positivity rates increase, 94 saw them decrease, and 26 had no change.

The other key coronavirus metric to rise was the hospitalization rate. The average hospitalizations went from 485 last week to 498.1. As of Wednesday, 526 Massachusetts residents were hospitalized with COVID-19.

Other key coronavirus metrics headed in the right direction, including the weekly average case count and deaths.

The weekly average case count was 926.6 daily cases, down from 1,125.9 last week. At the early January peak of the omicron surge, the state reported more than 23,000 average daily cases.

On Thursday, state data showed COVID-19 case rates increase in 159 Massachusetts cities and towns. Massachusetts also saw 140 communities with decreasing COVID-19 rates and 37 with no change.

As for deaths, there were 5.9 deaths per day over the last week, down from 6.4 per day a week ago.

The Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 1,699 new coronavirus cases, 18 deaths and 6,384 vaccine doses administered.

The latest state vaccine report showed the number of fully vaccinated residents rose to about 5.41 million. Booster doses were given to about 3.13 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 1,625 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of the 526 hospitalized patients, 45 were in intensive care Wednesday, down three from a week ago, state health officials said. Thirteen patients were intubated statewide.

According to the Department of Public Health, 28 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 1,774,241 confirmed cases and 19,768 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

The state reported 26,377 new tests Thursday, bringing the total administered to about 46.16 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.