Coronavirus

Massachusetts Reports 1,803 New Coronavirus Cases, 61 Deaths

There have now been 534,827 confirmed cases and 15,373 deaths in the state

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Massachusetts health officials reported 1,803 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 61 more deaths on Thursday.

There have now been 534,827 confirmed cases and 15,373 deaths in the state, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Another 313 deaths are considered probably linked to COVID-19.

Tuesday was the first time Massachusetts reported fewer than 1,000 new positive cases in a day since early November. However, that may have been because the report came after a holiday weekend -- the number of tests conducted was down in Tuesday's report and the positivity rate increased from the day before.

The number of cases jumped back up to 1,322 on Wednesday and increased by nearly 500 again on Thursday.

The Massachusetts vaccination finder website was experiencing technical difficulties Thursday morning as about one million people become newly eligible to get the vaccine for the first time.

Generally, Massachusetts' coronavirus metrics have been trending down in the past several weeks, according to the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, with the average number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths peaking in the second week of January. The testing rate peaked Jan. 1. The figures reported daily are important for tracking trends with the virus' spread, though a single-day change may not reflect a larger trend, and may reflect incomplete data.

The number of estimated active cases dropped again on Thursday, declining to 38,666 from 39,916 on Wednesday.

The percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive, on average, also dropped from 2.20% to 2.13%.

The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 decreased slightly to 1,029. Of that number, 271 were listed as being in intensive care units and 173 were intubated, according to health officials.

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