Massachusetts health officials reported another 1,593 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 14 new deaths Thursday.
The report pushed the state's number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 712,988 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 17,899.
Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, are far lower than they were several months ago, though they have been rising in recent weeks. While breakthrough cases are being reported, officials say most new cases, and especially serious infections, are in the unvaccinated.
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Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests ticked down to 2.45% Thursday. It was once above 30%, but had dropped under 0.5% until the delta variant began surging in the state.
The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases fell to 595; the figure was once nearly 4,000, but averaged under 85 at one point in July. Of those currently hospitalized, 150 are fully vaccinated, 158 are listed as being in intensive care units and 99 are intubated.
More than 9.2 million vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts. That includes more 4.7 million first shots and above 4.2 million second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 303,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
Health officials on Thursday reported that a total of 4,514,520 Massachusetts residents have been fully vaccinated.
