Key coronavirus metrics staying at record lows
State health officials on Friday reported three new virus deaths and 71 new cases as coronavirus rates stay at record lows.
The seven-day average of two daily deaths and 62 daily infections are the lowest rates of the entire pandemic. Those rates once peaked at around 175 daily deaths in April 2020 and more than 6,000 daily cases in January.
The 110 COVID-19 patients in Massachusetts hospitals on Friday stayed at the record low level from Thursday’s report. There are 32 patients in the intensive care unit and 19 are intubated.
Hospitals were once overwhelmed with coronavirus patients with the seven-day average of COVID-19 hospitalizations peaking at 3,800 in the early days of the pandemic.
The seven-day average of coronavirus hospitalizations is now 127, which is the lowest it has been since the start of the pandemic. The previous record low was 155 in August.
Virus cases have been significantly lower amid the vaccine rollout. The state’s count of estimated active cases is now 2,000 infections, way down from the estimated active case tally of around 100,000 during the winter surge’s peak.
Friday’s three new virus deaths bring the state’s total recorded death toll to 17,960.
The 71 new cases reported on Friday brings the state’s total case count to 663,119.
The seven-day average of percent positivity for virus tests is .37%, which is a pandemic-low record. Test positivity was once upwards of 30% in the early days of the pandemic when testing was limited.
As of Friday, more than 9.4 million vaccine doses have been shipped to the state and more than 8.4 million have been given out, according to the daily vaccine report from the state Department of Public Health.
About 57% of all Massachusetts residents are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and 61% have received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.