Mass. sees 421 new COVID cases and 12 more deaths
Public health officials reported 421 new coronavirus cases and 12 more deaths Saturday as the positive test rate remained flat at 1%.
The new deaths bring the state’s confirmed COVID-19 toll to 8,803. The three-day average number of fatalities was 14, down from 15 over the couple days prior and a drop from 161 at the start of May.
There are now 118,309 confirmed coronavirus cases in Massachusetts, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Another 23,882 people were tested for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of individuals tested to nearly 1.7 million. There have been more than 2.3 million tests administered statewide.
The positive test rate hovered at 1% for the fourth day in a row, continuing a downward trend over the month.
The three-day average number of hospitalizations was 317, down from 334 the day prior. The number of hospitals using surge capacity ticked up by one, to three.
Public health officials reported 305 hospitalizations on Saturday, with 62 patients in intensive care units and 26 people intubated.
Long-term care facilities reported another nine deaths, for a total of 5,790. There are 379 long-term care centers that have reported at least one COVID-19 case, and 24,597 residents and workers who have fallen ill.
Massachusetts added four more states to its lower-risk list for travel on Saturday. Colorado, Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia join the majority of Northeast states, except Rhode Island. Travelers and Massachusetts residents going to and from all other states will need to quarantine for 14 days or produce a negative test result no more than 72 hours old.
There are now more than 24 million coronavirus cases worldwide, with 5.9 million in the United States. Global deaths have now crossed 839,000, with 182,000 fatalities in the U.S. More than 16 million people have recovered, including 2.6 million Americans.