MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus: 5M Vaxxed, But Positives Keep Rising

MASSACHUSETTS — Massachusetts reported its highest weekly average death rate since April Thursday as coronavirus metrics remain high across the state.

The state reached 5 million people fully vaccinated against the coronavirus this week, but the winter surge shows not sign of abating yet.

Over 70 percent of Massachusetts communities reported rising positive test rates over the last two weeks, according to town-by-town data released Thursday. Just three Massachusetts communities didn't report a single positive test over the last two weeks, down two the last report.

The Department of Public Health reported 5,883 new coronavirus cases, 30 deaths and 57,531 vaccine doses administered Thursday.

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 1,342.1, up from 1,099.4 the week prior. Over 1,400 people were hospitalized with the virus, as of Wednesday.

The weekly average case count was 3,445 daily cases, up over 1,000 from the level a month prior.

The weekly average positive-test rate rose from 5.12 percent to 5.44 percent over the last week.

The death rate is up from 19.6 deaths per day a week ago to 22.4 as of Thursday's report.

Vaccines

The latest vaccine report shows the number of residents who are fully vaccinated has risen to 5.03 million. Another 758,501 residents have received one dose of the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

Booster doses have been given to 1,701,821 residents.

Nearly three-quarters of the state's population, 73.5 percent, is fully vaccinated, but some communities lag behind, according to state data. Eight communities continue to report that fewer than half their residents are even partially vaccinated, down one from last week. Compare that with the more than 90 percent of residents fully vaccinated in 25 cities and towns, up seven from last week.

Community-Level Data

How to use this map: Zoom in on the map below and click on a pin to see that community's coronavirus vaccination rates. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus vaccination data in the spreadsheet we used to create this map.

Colors reflect the percentage of the population fully vaccinated, from under 50 percent, red, to more than 70 percent, green. The state did not report vaccination numbers for the one gray community. Some communities are grouped together for the purpose of vaccination data.

Note: For dozens of communities, up to 30 vaccinations may be missing from the data, as the state does not report totals for demographic subgroups with fewer than 30 vaccinated. No vaccination data is available for one community with a particularly low population: Gosnold.

The data also does not include 1,105 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of 1,473 hospitalized patients, there were 319 patients in intensive care Wednesday, up 58 from a week prior.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 86 — or 24.5 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 247 — or 70.4 percent — of the communities. It held steady in the remaining 18. Over three-quarters of communities reported rising case counts.

Over 90 percent of communities reported positive test rates higher than 2 percent during the past two weeks, including 259 with test rates above 5 percent — up 30 from last week. Eight reported positive rates above 20 percent.

Statewide, there were 62.2 average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks, up from 47.7 in last week's report.

To date, there have been 927,563 cases and 19,361 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

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The state reported 122,993 new tests Friday, bringing the total administered to 35 million.

The data includes coronavirus cases for all Massachusetts communities, except for those with populations under 50,000 and where there are 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.

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