Massachusetts on Monday reported another 1,694 coronavirus cases and 23 new deaths.
This puts the state's COVID-19 cases at 1,545,303 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 22,855.
As we head toward spring, Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard paint a much-improved picture from January, when COVID-19 cases were spiking due to the omicron variant. State health officials reported a single-day record on Jan. 5, topping 27,000 cases, followed by the second-highest single-day total on Jan. 7, with more than 26,000 cases.
The 7-day average test positivity came in at 1.55% Monday, compared to 1.82% reported Friday.
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There were 319 hospitalizations reported Monday, with 56 patients in intensive care and 26 patients intubated. As recently as Jan. 14 there were 3,300 patients in hospitals. The worst period in the pandemic for hospitalizations continues to be April 2020, when nearly 4,000 people with COVID were in Massachusetts hospitals.
The state has started releasing a new breakdown of virus hospitalizations, data that indicates whether COVID-19 is the primary cause of hospitalization, or incidental. This data shows that from Jan. 13 to Feb. 7, roughly 50% of COVID-19 patients were primary cases. On March 4, 37% of COVID-19 hospitalizations were primary cases.
More COVID news
More than 13.98 million vaccine doses have now been administered in Massachusetts. That includes nearly 5.8 million first doses of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, 4.95 million second shots, and over 341,000 Johnson & Johnson one-dose shots. More than 2.86 million booster shots have been administered.
Health officials on Monday reported that a total of 5,297,516 Massachusetts residents have been fully vaccinated.
