MA Town-By-Town COVID: Positivity Rates Rise In 73 Percent Of Towns

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

The statewide seven-day positive test rate increased from 7.29 percent last week to 7.87 percent Thursday. That's the highest the rate has been since the end of January, when the original omicron wave was dying down.

At the community level, 243 Massachusetts cities and towns saw their positivity rates increase, 72 saw them decrease, and 21 had no change.

Another other key coronavirus metric to rise was the hospitalization rate. The average hospitalizations went from 498.1 last week to 511.3. As of Wednesday, 552 Massachusetts residents were hospitalized with COVID-19.

The weekly average case count was 1,200.3 daily cases, up from 926.6 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 134 Massachusetts cities and towns. Massachusetts also saw 161 communities with decreasing COVID-19 rates and 41 with no change.

Deaths were the only key metric to head in the right direction in Massachusetts. There were 5.6 deaths per day over the last week, down from 5.9 per day a week ago.

The Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 7,096 new coronavirus cases in the last week, as well as 31 new deaths and 3,775 vaccine doses administered.

The latest state vaccine report showed the number of fully vaccinated residents rose to more than 5.41 million. Booster doses were given to more than 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 1,631 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of the 552 hospitalized patients, 46 were in intensive care Wednesday, up four from a week ago, state health officials said. Twelve patients were intubated statewide.

According to the Department of Public Health, 30 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 1,783,187 confirmed cases and 19,818 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

The state reported 96,456 new tests Thursday, bringing the total administered to about 46.29 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.