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New cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts continued their upward trend on Thursday, with the state reporting 236 new cases and four deaths from COVID.
Although still relatively low, numbers have risen in the past three weeks after hitting a pandemic low the week of June 20.
A review of positive tests by date they were tested shows that new cases in Massachusetts last week were up 46% from the week before. In fact, according to updated data from the Department of Public Health on Thursday, 13 of Massachusetts’ 14 counties saw cases increase from June 27 to July 10. The only county that saw cases decrease during this time was Franklin County. There have only been two cases reported in the county during this period.
Barnstable County had the highest infection rate with 1.9 cases per 100,000 people or 57 new cases during the same two-week period.
Data from Thursday showed hospitalizations also increased slightly to 108 patients, including 36 in intensive care and 11 intubated. Hospitalizations had fallen to a low of 80 by July 4, the lowest since the pandemic began flooding hospitals in March of last year.
The seven-day average of positive tests is 0.78%.
The deaths have been single digits for weeks now. They had grown to nearly 200 per day at the start of the pandemic.
About 61% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, based on population estimates planned for 2021 in Massachusetts. And 63% of the state’s population have received at least one dose of the vaccine. There were 5,702 new vaccinations reported Thursday – the lowest number of new vaccinations since July 6.
Despite a robust vaccinated population, the delta variant of the virus continues to be of concern to health officials. The new variant is more contagious and can be more deadly for those who are not vaccinated.
“What we are seeing is an extremely aggressive variant – the delta variant – which is probably 50% more contagious, more serious, potentially even more serious in young people, doing its best to bring us back to the time,” Dr Mark Siedner, an infectious disease clinician at Mass General Hospital told WBZ News.
Although the most severe cases of the virus remain confined to unvaccinated people, Provincetown this week launched additional mobile testing and vaccination sites, after a week of new positive COVID cases resulting from a crowded weekend of 4 July.
“We have seen several cases a day since the end of last week,” said Cape Cod Democratic State Senator Julian Cyr.
The cases appear to involve most of the vaccinated individuals, known as the “revolutionary” cases, as most of the city is vaccinated.
Before that rise, the last time Provincetown saw a positive COVID case was June 4.
In partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, UMass Memorial this week began administering monoclonal antibody therapy, or mAb therapy, to COVID patients to reduce the severity of symptoms.
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