MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus: Virus Receding Across The State

MASSACHUSETTS — The omicron surge is on the downswing in the vast majority of Massachusetts communities, according to the latest town-by-town Department of Public Health data released Thursday.

Deaths were rising slowly, but all other metrics including hospitalizations were on the decline statewide. The seven-day average positive rate fell below 10 percent for the first time in 2022.

More than 90 percent of communities reported falling case counts, and more than 80 percent reported falling positive rates relative to last week's report. The majority of cities and towns reported rising rates in last week's report.

The falling coronavirus cases were also reflected in Boston-area sewage data, which has tended to be a leading indicator of trends in the coronavirus. Samples taken over the last week at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's Deer Island Treatment Plant had coronavirus levels below the pre-omicron peak, according to analysis by the Cambridge-based epidemiology firm Biobot Analytics.

The Department of Public Health reported 8,616 new coronavirus cases, 84 deaths and 23,592 vaccine doses administered Thursday.

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 2,824, down from 3,200.1 the week before.

The weekly average case count was 6,013.4 daily cases, down more than 50 percent from 12,080.1 a week before. A month ago, the state was reporting more than 7,000 average daily cases.

The weekly average positive-test rate fell from 14.43 percent to 9.48 percent over the last week.

There were 60.6 deaths per day over the last week, up from 58 a week ago.

Vaccines

The latest vaccine report showed the number of fully vaccinated residents rose to 5.19 million. Booster doses were given to 2.65 million residents.

More than three-quarters of the state's population, or 76.2 percent, was fully vaccinated, but some communities lagged, according to state data. Seven communities continued to report that fewer than half their residents were even partially vaccinated. Compare that with the more than 90 percent of residents fully vaccinated in 31 cities and towns.

In 96 communities, more than half of residents have received a booster shot.

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 rate. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus vaccination data in the spreadsheet we used to create this map.

Colors reflected 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 were 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 was available for one community with a particularly low population, Gosnold.

The data also did not include 2,285 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in. Vaccination rates in some communities, such as Buckland and Lincoln, may be skewed by reporting issues such as federal facilities or misalignment between ZIP code and municipal boundaries.

Other Key Coronavirus Metrics

Of 2,521 hospitalized patients, 396 were in intensive care Wednesday, down 66 from a week before.

According to a state metric introduced recently, just over half of the state's coronavirus hospitalizations over the last week were "primarily" hospitalized for the virus, versus "incidental" cases, who tested positive while hospitalized for another reason.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 295 — or 84.05 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 44 — or 12.54 percent — of the communities. It held steady in the remaining 12. More than 90 percent of communities reported falling case counts.

All but one community reported positive test rates higher than 2 percent during the past two weeks, including 121 with positive rates over 20 percent, down from 189 last week.

Statewide, there were 185.9 average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks, down from 278.9 in last week's report.

To date, there have been 1,466,315 confirmed cases and 21,271 deaths statewide since the pandemic began.

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The state reported 117,902 new tests Friday, bringing the total administered to 38.8 million.

The data included coronavirus cases for all Massachusetts communities, except for those with populations under 50,000 and where there were 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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This article originally appeared on the Across Massachusetts Patch