MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: Deaths, Hospitalizations Rise

MASSACHUSETTS — Coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths rose across Massachusetts while the positive test rate declined, according to the latest data released by the Department of Public Health Thursday.

And a positive trend at the town level reversed itself, with more Massachusetts communities reporting rising positive rates than falling rates in the latest town-by-town report.

Twenty-four Massachusetts communities didn't report a single positive test over the last two weeks, level with the last report.

The Department of Public Health reported 1,593 new coronavirus cases, 14 deaths and 12,201 vaccine doses administered Thursday.

Statewide metrics continued to paint a mixed picture. The hospitalization rate continued to rise while the positive test rate declined.

There were 7.4 deaths per day on average over the last week, up from 6.0 a week before.

The average weekly case count was 1098.6 daily cases, down from 1398.7 a week earlier. The weekly average positive-test rate fell from 2.78 percent to 2.45 percent.

The lowest positive rate was just 0.31 percent on June 25.

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 590.1, up from 537.4 a week prior.

Vaccines

The latest vaccine report shows the number of residents who are fully vaccinated has risen to 4.51 million. Another 495,651 residents have received one dose of the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

Over 66 percent of the state's population is fully vaccinated, but some communities lag behind, according to state data. Eighteen communities continue to report that fewer than half their residents are even partially vaccinated. Compare that with the more than 90 percent of residents fully vaccinated in eight cities and towns.

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 two gray communities. 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 two communities with particularly low populations: Gosnold and Monroe.

The data also does not include 987 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of 595 hospitalized patients, there were 158 patients in intensive care Wednesday, up from 143 a week prior.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 139 — or 39.6 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 162 — or 46.2 percent — of the communities. It held steady in the remaining 50.

More than two-thirds of communities reported positive test rates higher than 2 percent during the past two weeks, including 56 with test rates above 5 percent — up 10 from last week. The highest rate, 26.7 percent, was reported by Aquinnah.

Statewide, there were 19.5 average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks, up from 17.4 in last week's report.

To date, there have been 712,988 cases and 17,899 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

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The state reported 84,130 new tests Thursday, bringing the total administered to 26.3 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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