State's COVID-19 deaths top 20,000; seven South Shore town rates higher than state average
QUINCY – COVID-19 cases continued to decline on the state and local levels while the state passed the grim milestone of 20,000 confirmed deaths during the coronavirus pandemic, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported Thursday.
With 47 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the last seven day period covered by the weekly report, the state now has 20,025 deaths from the disease during the more than 2½ years of the pandemic. The number of deaths is an increase of eight from the previous week.
The number of people in the hospital with the virus increased from the previous week, the agency said, with double the number of patients on breathing equipment.
For the third straight week, reported COVID-19 cases have mostly declined on the South Shore and statewide, the state reports show. Case counts increased in eight of the 23 South Shore communities surveyed, the state reported in its weekly breakdown of cases by municipality.
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The federal Centers for Disease Control reports more than 93.1 million cases of COVID-19 nationally during the course of the pandemic, with 1,034,118 deaths.
On the South Shore, there were 1,282 cases during the two weeks ending Aug. 13. That is a decrease of 5.9% from the two week period ending Aug. 6, when there were 1,362 cases.
The statewide rate dropped from 18.8 to 17.5 cases per day per 100,000 people averaged over the two weeks ending Aug, 13.
Only lab-confirmed cases are included in the state health department report, not those found with home test kits.
Seven local communities had rates higher than the statewide average of 17.5 cases per day per 100,000 people. They are Randolph, with a rate of 27, Whitman with a rate of 24.1, Rockland with a rate of 23.3, Hull with a rate of 22, Hanover with a rate of 21.2, Pembroke with a rate of 19.5 and Plymouth with a rate of 17.6.
The town with the lowest rate is Norwell with a rate of 8.2.
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In Thursday's weekly report, the state health department said there were 8,224 COVID-19 cases over the seven days ending Wednesday, bringing the state's total for the pandemic to 1,830,211. There were 726 fewer new cases than the prior week..
There were 582 people in the hospital with COVID-19, 22 more than the previous week. The number of patients hospitalized primarily for COVID-19 was 176, an increase of 32 from the previous report. There were 64 patients in intensive care units with COVID-19, up seven from a week earlier, and 24 on breathing equipment, twice as many as the week before.
The following is a list of the number of cases by community for the two weeks ending Aug. 13, 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: 32 cases; 13.4 rate; 4,334 total
Braintree: 71 cases; 13 rate; 10,041 total
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Carver: 24 cases; 14.7 rate; 2,478 total.
Cohasset: 19 cases; 16.2 rate; 1,371 total
Duxbury: 36 cases; 16 rate; 2,924 total
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Halifax: 10 cases; 9.2 rate; 1,622 total
Hanover: 44 cases; 21.2 rate; 4,648 total
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Hanson: 20 cases; 13.4 rate; 2,495 total
Hingham: 37 cases; 10.9 rate; 4,998 total
Holbrook: 22 cases; 13.8 rate; 2,995 total.
Hull: 31 cases; 22 rate; 1,639 total.
Kingston: 33 cases; 17.2 rate; 3,228 total.
Marshfield: 34 cases; 9.4 rate; 4,985 total
Milton: 37 cases; 9.2 rate; 6,629 total
Norwell: 13 cases; 8.2 rate; 2,400 total
Pembroke: 50 cases; 19.5 rate; 4,125 total
Plymouth: 151 cases; 17.6 rate; 14,794 total
Quincy: 225 cases; 15.8 rate; 21,654 total
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Randolph: 132 cases; 27 rate; 10,900 total
Rockland: 58 cases; 23.3 rate; 4,748 total
Scituate: 39 cases; 14.6 rate; 3,386 total
Weymouth: 113 cases; 14.1 rate; 13,444 total
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'Whitman: 51 cases; 24.1 rate; 3,704 total
Reach Fred Hanson at fhanson@patriotledger.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: South Shore and statewide COVID-19 cases decline for 3rd straight week
