Marblehead Coronavirus Case Rise Mirrors State Surge

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Coronavirus case counts have risen in Marblehead in line with the rest of the state in recent weeks despite very high vaccination rates.

Marblehead reported 120 new cases over the past 14 days with a positive-test rate of 4.71 percent. There were 47.3 cases per 100,000 residents over the previous two weeks.

The statewide positive-test rate was 5.01 over the previous two weeks as of Thursday with 47.7 cases per 100,000 residents.

Marblehead is above the state average when it comes to vaccinations with more than 95 percent of eligible residents at least partially vaccinated and 85.3 percent of eligible residents fully vaccinated.

Over two-thirds of the state's population, 72.6 percent, is fully vaccinated.

For a third consecutive week, over three-quarters of Massachusetts communities reported rising positive test rates over the previous two weeks, according to town-by-town data released Thursday. Just five Massachusetts communities didn't report a single positive test over the last two weeks, down four the last report.

The Department of Public Health reported 5,472 new coronavirus cases, 27 deaths and 59,334 vaccine doses administered Thursday.

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 1099.4, up from 854.5 the week prior.

Over 1,200 people were hospitalized with the virus, as of Wednesday.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)