Mass. Confirms 657 New COVID Cases, 12 More Deaths

Massachusetts health officials reported another 657 confirmed coronavirus cases and 12 new deaths on Tuesday as the testing rate rose above 1.8%.

The report pushed the state's confirmed COVID-19 caseload to 670,304 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 17,697. Tuesday's number of new cases was the most in a single day since mid-May, and the most deaths in one day since June 1.

The state's 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 the last few 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 rose to 1.83% on Tuesday. 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 rose to 152; the figure was once nearly 4,000. Of those currently hospitalized, 33 are listed as being in intensive care units and 17 are intubated.

Nearly 8.9 million vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts as of Tuesday. That includes nearly 4.6 million first shots and more than 4 million second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 286,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.

Health officials on Tuesday reported that a total of 4,335,113 Bay State residents have been fully vaccinated.