Despite COVID Surge, Medford Remains Moderate Risk

Alex Newman
·2 min read

MEDFORD, MA — Medford added 254 coronavirus cases over the last two weeks, bringing it to over 1,900 confirmed cases, according to town-by-town data released by the state. The city remained in the moderate-risk category, averaging 29.9 daily cases per 100,000 residents, with a test rate of 1.42 percent.

That's up from 22.2 average daily cases and a test rate of 1.28 percent in the state's last public health report, released Nov. 19. There have been 1,909 cases in Medford since March.

Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said Thursday the city is tracking two "separate and significant" clusters of COVID-19 cases. Medford reported 54 positive cases Wednesday, its third-highest daily case rate since the start of the pandemic.

The latest town-by-town report labeled 97 Massachusetts communities as high-risk, up from 81 last week. The majority of the state's cities and towns reported rising test rates.

State officials announced 49 more deaths Thursday. The seven-day average of hospitalized coronavirus patients increased to 1,324, compared to 963 last Friday.

>>MA Reports New High 6,477 Coronavirus Cases, 5% Positive Rate

Gov. Charlie Baker drew a difference between this surge and last spring at a news conference Thursday. People over age 70 are being hospitalized at much lower rates this fall, and hospitalizations have been growing at about 2 to 3 percent per day — in the spring, Massachusetts added some 4,000 hospitalizations in a little over a month.

There were 261 confirmed coronavirus patients in intensive care Thursday. In late April, there were over 1,000 such patients.

Baker said that doctors have new tools to treat the virus, including drugs like remdesivir, and convalescent plasma. But he also added that hospitals will almost certainly face additional strain in the coming weeks and months. Officials announced a new field hospital would open in Lowell within a month, and another may open in the southeastern part of the state.

To date, there have been 232,264 cases and 10,637 deaths statewide since the pandemic began. Officials estimate there are 49,225 active cases in Massachusetts.

This article originally appeared on the Medford Patch