Massachusetts health officials have reported just over 9,000 new breakthrough COVID cases over the last week, and 47 new deaths in people with breakthrough cases.
In the last week, 9,047 new breakthrough cases -- infections in people who have been vaccinated -- were reported, with 152 more vaccinated people hospitalized over the period, Massachusetts Department of Public Health officials said Tuesday. This is a 33% decrease from the last report -- in the previous period, there were 13,601 new breakthrough cases reported.
The new report brings the total number of breakthrough cases to 588,577 and the death toll among people with breakthrough infections to 3,019.
Breakthrough case figures remain a small percentage of the total number of all people who have been vaccinated. Cases in vaccinated individuals account for 10.9% of all cases, hospitalizations .17% and deaths are just 0.06% of the total counts since the start of the pandemic.
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Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, appear to be coming down off a bump, with the latest surge being attributed to a subvariant of omicron, the BA.2. 12.1 subvariant.
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The state reported 2,040 new cases on Tuesday, with 585 people hospitalized. Of those hospitalizations, 198 are hospitalized primarily for COVID-19 reasons. There are 53 patients in intensive care and 22 intubated.
There were 18 new deaths reported Tuesday.
The state's seven-day average positivity rate came in at 6.81% Tuesday, compared to 6.55% on Monday.
Experts have said that case count reporting may have become a less accurate indicator during the omicron surge, given the difficulties in getting tested and widespread use of rapid tests where results go unreported.
More than 14.8 million vaccine doses have now been administered in Massachusetts.
Health officials on Tuesday reported that a total of 5,387,537 Massachusetts residents have been fully vaccinated.
