Daily positive test rate over 3%
Massachusetts health officials on Sunday reported three new coronavirus deaths and 626 new cases, as the daily positive test rate remained above 3%.
The 626 cases was a slight drop from the 700-plus cases reported on Thursday and Friday — the highest numbers since spring.
The three new coronavirus deaths bring the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 9,510, the state Department of Public Health said. The three-day average of coronavirus daily deaths has dropped from 161 in May to 13 now.
The state has logged 134,947 cases of the highly contagious disease, an increase of 626 confirmed cases and 18 probable cases since Saturday. Of the 134,947 total cases, at least 113,768 people have recovered.
The daily percent of tested individuals who are positive continued to stay above 3%. That figure at the start of September was between 1%-2%, but the rate was 4.0% on Thursday, 3.4% on Friday and 3.2% on Saturday — the most recent day of available data.
The seven-day weighted average of the Bay State’s positive test rate held steady at 1.1% on Sunday.
Coronavirus hospitalizations on Sunday went up by 22 patients, bringing the state’s COVID-19 hospitalization total to 438.
There are 83 patients in the ICU, and 27 patients are currently intubated.
The highest peak of Massachusetts’ coronavirus hospitalizations was 3,965 on April 21. The three-day average of coronavirus hospitalizations has increased from 308 two weeks ago to 425 now.
An additional 18,981 tests have brought the state’s total to more than 4.3 million tests.
Also over the weekend, officials at the Middleton Jail announced an outbreak there had grown to 48 cases.
Each person has had mild symptoms so far, and no one has been hospitalized, the jail said in a statement. The jail is testing all inmates and staff.
The state reported 24,953 residents and health care workers at long-term care facilities have now contracted the virus.
Of the state’s 9,510 total coronavirus deaths, 6,104 are connected to long-term care facilities.