Massachusetts health officials reported another 1,591 confirmed COVID-19 cases and six new deaths Friday.
The report pushed the state's number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 703,961 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 17,847.
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 rose slightly to 2.75% Friday. 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 572; the figure was once nearly 4,000, but averaged under 85 in July. Of those currently hospitalized, 149 are listed as being in intensive care units and 78 are intubated.
More than 9.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts. That includes nearly 4.7 million first shots and under 4.2 million second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 300,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
Health officials on Friday reported that a total of 4,478,648 Massachusetts residents have been fully vaccinated.
