State reports 3,491 weekend cases, 9 deaths

State health officials on Monday reported 3,491 COVID cases over the weekend, as the positive test rate continues to drop while virus hospitalizations plateaued.

The state Department of Public Health reported a daily average of 1,164 COVID cases over the weekend, which was a bit up from the daily rate of 1,017 infections last weekend.

The seven-day average of cases is now 1,136, a drop from nearly 4,000 daily infections in mid-May.

The omicron BA.2.12.1 subvariant has been circulating the region. The Boston-area COVID-19 wastewater data had been rising, but then the predictive wastewater levels started falling again.

The state’s positive test average had been jumping, but has trended down over the past month. The average is now 5.37% — down from 8.01% one month ago. The positive test rate for the weekend’s report was lower at 5.12%.

The state on Monday reported nine new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total recorded death toll to 20,901. The seven-day average of daily deaths is now six, which had been much higher following the omicron hospitalization surge.

There are now 482 COVID patients hospitalized in the state, an uptick of one patient from Friday’s count. Hospitalizations had been spiking for several weeks amid the omicron surge but then started falling again.

The state reported that 41 patients are currently in the intensive care unit, and nine patients are intubated.

Of the 482 total COVID patients, 29% of the patients were primarily hospitalized for COVID, while 71% of the patients were considered incidental COVID cases.

More than 5.4 million people are fully vaccinated, and more than 3.1 million people have received a booster dose. Also, the state reported 569,079 additional boosters have been administered.