MA Town-By-Town COVID: Hospitalization Rate Rises, But Cases Tick Down

MASSACHUSETTS — For the first time in a few weeks, Massachusetts saw a couple of its coronavirus metrics head in the right direction again, according to data released my the state Department of Public Health Thursday.

Case rates statewide headed in the right direction for a second straight week, and the positivity rate also decreased slightly.

The hospitalization rate was the only key metric to rise, while the death rate didn't change. The average hospitalizations went from 557 last week to 592.3. As of Wednesday, 616 Massachusetts residents were hospitalized with COVID-19.

The statewide seven-day positive test rate decreased from 8.17 percent last week to 8.09 percent Thursday. Despite the slight improvement, for a month straight, the positivity rate has remained higher than it was when the original omicron subvariant began losing steam at the end of January.

At the community level, 157 Massachusetts cities and towns saw their positivity rates increase, 159 saw them decrease, and 20 had no change.

The weekly average case count was 1,107.3 daily cases, down from 1,122.7 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 156 Massachusetts cities and towns. Massachusetts also saw 141 communities with decreasing COVID-19 rates and 39 with no change.

As for deaths, there were 6.7 deaths per day over the last week, the same as a week ago.

The Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 9,954 new coronavirus cases in the last week, as well as 38 new deaths and 4,527 vaccine doses administered.

The latest state vaccine report showed the number of fully vaccinated residents rose to more than 5.43 million. Booster doses were given to about 3.16 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 1,659 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of the 616 hospitalized patients, 48 were in intensive care Wednesday, down four from a week ago, state health officials said. Nineteen patients were intubated statewide.

According to the Department of Public Health, 27.8 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 percent of the state's hospitalized patients on Wednesday were vaccinated.

To date, there have been 1,803,391 confirmed cases and 19,898 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

The state reported 135,460 new tests Thursday, bringing the total administered to about 46.6 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.