Coronavirus

Mass. Confirms 253 New COVID Cases, 4 More Deaths as Test Rate Drops Under 0.75%

Just under 3.6 million people have been fully vaccinated in Massachusetts

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Massachusetts health officials reported another 253 confirmed COVID cases and four more deaths Friday, while the positive test rate fell under 0.75%.

The new numbers pushed the state's confirmed case total to 660,766 and the death toll to 17,495 since the start of the pandemic.

Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, have fallen far enough that the state's COVID-related business restrictions will end on Saturday.

On Friday, Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests dropped under 0.8%, to 0.74%.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced some big changes for coronavirus-related face coverings coming at the end of the month. Here is what you need to know about when vaccinated and unvaccinated people will still be expected to mask up.

The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases fell to 241. Of those currently hospitalized, 74 are listed as being in intensive care units and 40 are intubated.

Health officials' projection of active COVID-19 cases decreased to 7,314 on Friday from 7,843 on Thursday.

More than 7.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Massachusetts as of Friday, including over 4.1 million first doses and more than 3.3 million second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 248,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.

Health officials reported that 3,599,402 Bay State residents had been fully vaccinated as of Friday. Gov. Charlie Baker is aiming to reach 4.1 million fully vaccinated by the beginning of June.

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