Worcester Coronavirus Cases Top 1,000

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester passed an almost inevitable milestone on Friday when the city's coronavirus case count went beyond the 1,000 mark.

Worcester added 104 cases over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,067. Included in that total is a jump in coronavirus cases in the city's homeless community.

This week, officials tested 80 people who visit the SMOC shelter along Queen Street. Forty-seven tested positive for the virus — that's on top of 25 people who tested positive who are staying at a temporary shelter at Worcester Technical High School. Four SMOC employees have also tested positive.

City Manager Edward Augustus said that a separate facility will open at the DCU Center — the site of a temporary recovery hospital for coronavirus patients — to house the additional homeless people who have tested positive.

Augustus also said that 33 residents and 18 staff at the St. Mary Health Care Center senior living facility have tested positive. That news comes after more than a dozen residents at Worcester senior living facilities have died of coronavirus over the last week.

At Worcester's two major hospitals, Saint Vincent and UMass Memorial, there are now 192 people being treated for coronavirus — actually a decrease of 12 people compared to Thursday. The number of people in intensive care also dropped by two. But, deaths at the two hospitals rose by five compared to Thursday to a total of 45.