Massachusetts health officials reported another 2,996 confirmed coronavirus cases and six new deaths on Monday, in a post-weekend report encompassing three days.
The report pushed the state's confirmed COVID-19 caseload to 689,014 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 17,778.
Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, are far lower than they were several months ago, though some 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.
Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests fell to 2.74% on Monday. It was once above 30%, but had dropped under 0.5% until the delta variant began surging in the state.
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The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases rose above 400, to 402; the figure was once nearly 4,000, but averaged under 85 in July. Of those currently hospitalized, 82 are listed as being in intensive care units and 38 are intubated.
More than 9 million vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts. That includes over 4.6 million first shots and more than 4.1 million second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 295,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
Health officials on Monday reported that a total of 4,442,984 Bay State residents have been fully vaccinated.
