MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: Hospitalizations Continue Rise

MASSACHUSETTS — Coronavirus hospitalizations continued to rise across Massachusetts while the positive test rate leveled out, according to the latest data released by the Department of Public Health Thursday.

More than half of Massachusetts communities reported rising positive test rates and case counts in the latest town-level report — but fewer reported rising positive rates than in the previous report.

Twenty-five Massachusetts communities didn't report a single positive test over the last two weeks, down from 35 in the last report.

The Department of Public Health reported 1,373 new coronavirus cases, four deaths and 11,276vaccine doses administered Thursday.

Statewide metrics continued to paint a mixed picture. Most data showed a decline in coronavirus cases, but the hospitalization rate continued to rise.

The average weekly case count was 913.1 daily cases, down from 1085.6 a week earlier. The weekly average case count fell from 2.97 percent to 2.76 percent.

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

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 400.5, up from 309.5 a week prior. The weekly average death rate rose slightly, from 4.6 per day to 5.

Vaccines

The latest vaccine report shows the number of residents who are fully vaccinated has risen to 4.44 million. Another 497,913 residents have received one dose of the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

Sixty-five 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 944 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of 439 hospitalized patients, there were 94 patients in intensive care Wednesday, up from 85 a week prior.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 96 — or 27.4 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 187 — or 53.3 percent — of the communities. It held steady in the remaining 68.

More than two-thirds of communities reported positive test rates higher than 2 percent during the past two weeks, including 49 with test rates above 5 percent — double the number last week. The highest rate, 14.5 percent, was reported by Shirley.

Statewide, there were 15.3 average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks, up from 12.2 in last week's report.

To date, there have been 693,093 cases and 17,799 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

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The state reported 55,432 new tests Thursday, bringing the total administered to 25.5 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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