‘Vaccines work’
Bay State virus daily deaths drop to lowest point in 380 days
The daily number of people dying from coronavirus in Massachusetts has plummeted to the lowest point since last March, as doctors say the encouraging trend shows “vaccines work” — along with jabbing the most vulnerable first.
But the public health experts also warned that the state is “not completely out of the woods yet” and that people still need to be cautious as more contagious variants spread across the Bay State.
During the last week, the state Department of Public Health has reported five days of single-digit coronavirus deaths — counts of three deaths, seven deaths, two days of eight deaths and nine deaths.
The seven-day average of confirmed deaths has now dropped to nine daily deaths — dipping under 10 daily deaths, which has not happened since March 28, 2020. Even when virus case counts were significantly lower during the summer, the daily death average never dropped below 10.
“It shows that vaccines work,” said David Rosman, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “The most likely people to die of COVID-19 got vaccinated first, so that is what’s driving this primarily.
“We should celebrate that vaccinations work, we should celebrate fewer deaths, but we shouldn’t relent until the deaths stop,” he added.
More than 17,000 people in Massachusetts have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic started last March.
The average age of Massachusetts patients who have died of coronavirus is 74 years old. Meanwhile, the average age of patients has now plummeted to 59 years old during the vax rollout that has prioritized older people.
“Massachusetts is one of the states that’s doing really well with the number of people who are vaccinated, and we’re seeing the fruits of that,” said Asif Merchant, a Massachusetts geriatrician.
“But we need to still be cautious here,” he added. “We’re not completely out of the woods yet with the increase in variants.”
Some younger people who are not vaccinated are still getting “very sick,” Rosman noted.
“A higher percentage of younger people are ending up in the ICU than before these variants,” he added.
“It’s important that people don’t let up,” Rosman said. “We are close, but we need another six weeks to two months to get where we need to know that we can win the race between vaccinations and a transforming virus.”