Worcester Sees Coronavirus Hospitalizations Decline For 4th Day

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester's coronavirus epidemic appears to have peaked on May 1, according to local hospital data. Total hospitalizations have been up and down since then, but Worcester did post a fourth day of declining numbers on Wednesday.

Worcester has been releasing numbers every day showing the number of hospitalizations at Saint Vincent Hospital and in the UMass Memorial system — including the number of ICU patients and hospital deaths. Hospitalizations hit a possible peak of 284 on May 1.

"Clearly, we hit the peak of COVID-19 in central Massachusetts on May 1, and are plateauing as the number of COVID-positive patients has not increased, but remains high," UMass President Eric Dickson wrote on his blog on May 5. "We hit our highest mark yet on how many COVID-positive patients we have in our hospitals, and I hope we will begin to see a leveling off in the coming weeks."

Total hospitalizations have dropped since May 1, hitting new lows of 261 on May 6 and May 12. But hospitalizations also rose between those dates. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care may have peaked on May 7 at 118. Since then, ICU numbers have hovered around 100.

On May 13, total hospitalizations dropped to 250, the lowest point since April 26. Wednesday was also the fourth consecutive day of declines. However, Worcester also saw 81 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the city's total to 3,081. Deaths also rose by nine to a pandemic total of 193.

Health officials watch hospitalizations closely, and Gov. Charlie Baker has said it's a key factor in deciding when to allow businesses to begin reopening. Hospitalizations have been dropping across Massachusetts, but rose for the first time in five days on Tuesday before dropping again to a four-week low of 3,101.

The Centers for Disease Control has said that a 14-day decline in cases should be seen before loosening restrictions on things like public gatherings and businesses opening.

On Wednesday, Worcester Medical Director Michael Hirsh said that Worcester is still in the plateau of the pandemic.

"You could see we had more cases today but fewer hospitalizations," Hirsh said. "Some of that is because we had nine deaths. If we continue to watch trends, we should watch the new cases diminish, the hospitalizations diminish.

"The deaths, unfortunately, I think will continue to lag behind the diminution of those two factors."