South Shore COVID-19 cases drop, statewide cases up for third straight week, state reports
QUINCY – COVID-19 cases on the South Shore fell while they continued to rise across the state in the latest reports issued by the state Department of Public Health on Thursday.
The number of people in the state's hospitals with the virus has also increased, with the most serious cases also up, the agency said.
Case counts declined in 14 of the 23 South Shore communities surveyed, the state reported in its weekly breakdown of cases by municipality.
The statewide rise in cases comes amid growing concerns about the latest COVID-19 variant, BA.5, which is the most infectious yet and its believed to account for the majority of the nation's cases. The new variant is said to infect people who are vaccinated and fully boosted, including President Joseph Biden, as well as those who gained immunity from prior infections.
On the South Shore, there were 1,372 cases during the two weeks ending July 16. That is a decrease of 4.5% from the two week period ending July 9, when there were 1,437 cases.
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The statewide increase was 2%, with 19,394 cases for the two weeks ending July 16 compared to 18,996 for the two weeks ending July 9. The statewide rate rose from 19.3 cases per day per 100,000 people averaged over two weeks to 19.7 in the latest report. It is the third straight week the statewide numbers have gone up.
Only lab-confirmed cases are included in the state health department report, not ones found with home test kits.
Three local communities had rates higher than the statewide average of 19.7 cases per day per 100,000 people. They are Randolph, with a rate of 24.7, Carver with a rate of 21 and Hull with a rate of 20.6. Braintree matched the state average of 19.7.
The town with the lowest rate was Halifax with 11.1.
In Thursday's weekly report, the state health department said there were 10,250 new COVID-19 cases over the seven days ending Wednesday, bringing the state's total for the pandemic to 1,793,437.
There were 589 people in the state's hospitals with COVID-19, an increase of 37 patients from a week earlier. Of these, 189 are being treated primarily for COVID-19 related illnesses, two dozen more than a week earlier. There were 52 patients in intensive care units with COVID-19, up six from a week ago, and 20 on breathing equipment, up eight from a week before.
The state reported 42 new COVID-19 deaths over the past week, bringing the total for the pandemic to 19,860.
The following is a list of the number of cases by community for the two weeks ending July 16, the average daily rate of cases per 100,000 people over the two-week period and the total number of cases since the pandemic began. The statistics do not include the results of home tests.
Abington: 31 cases; 13 rate; 4,263 total
Braintree: 108 cases; 19.7 rate; 9,865 total
Carver: 35 cases; 121 rate; 2,424 total
Cohasset: 15 cases; 12,8 rate; 1,334 total
Duxbury: 42 cases; 18.6 rate; 2,866 total
Halifax: 12 cases; 11.1 rate; 1,598 total
Hanover: 40 cases; 19.3 rate; 4,563 total
Hanson: 22 cases; 14.8 rate; 2,452 total
Hingham: 50 cases; 14,7 rate; 4,918 total
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Holbrook: 30 cases, 18.8 rate, 2,898 total.
Hull: 29 cases; 20.6 rate, 1,586 total.
Kingston: 31 cases; 16.2 rate; 3,154 total.
Marshfield: 46 cases; 12.7 rate; 4,906 total
Milton: 78 cases; 19.5 rate; 6,527 total
Norwell: 26 cases; 16.4 rate; 2,360 total
Pembroke: 44 cases; 17.1 rate; 4,039 total
Plymouth: 157 cases; 18.3 rate; 14,479 total
Quincy: 221 cases; 15.5 rate; 21,198 total
Randolph: 121 cases; 24.7 rate; 10,633 total
Rockland: 40 cases; 16 rate; 4,656 total
Scituate: 30 cases; 11.2 rate; 3,308 total
Weymouth: 132 cases; 16.4 rate; 13,186 total
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Whitman: 32 cases; 15.1 rate; 3,625 total
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Weekly COVID-19 reports show drop in South Shore cases, statewide rise
