Happy Canada Day!

Once again, I wish a most happy Canada Day [1] to my friends and neighbors north of the border, who continue to demonstrate exquisite good taste by celebrating their national holiday upon my own personal natal day.

[1] Pour saluer la fête du Canada en français, appuyez sur 2.

Local COVID-19 updates

As of 4PM today, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 28 newly reported confirmed COVID-19 deaths (for a total of 7,902 confirmed deaths), 157 newly reported confirmed cases (for a total of 103,858) and 10,190 new patients tested by molecular tests (for a total of 853,150), with a total of 1,079,648 molecular tests administered to date. The ratio of newly confirmed cases to individuals tested by molecular test is 1.5%. The state also reported no newly reported probable deaths (for a total of 179; looks like they reclassified a probable death as non-COVID related), 104 newly reported probable cases (for a total of 5,285), and 1,066 patients tested by antibody tests (for a total of 72,752). In total, the state reported 28 new deaths (for a total of 8,081) and 261 new cases (for a total of 109,143).

I'm not at all surprised that the death counts are up from yesterday - sure, I wish this thing was over, but it ain't. I'm a bit more disappointed that the percent-positive test rate ticked up slightly. The test counts are up, which is good; but why the heck is the state maxing out at around 10k tests per day? Let's get some more surveillance going at least, people!

Also disappointing: of the four longer-term metrics the state is following, three ticked up today: the three-day average number of COVID-19 patients in hospital (up from 748 to 752), the number of hospitals using surge capacity (up from 1 to 3) and the three-day average of COVID-19 deaths (up from 20 to 21). The fourth metric, the seven-day weighted average positive test rate, remained steady at 1.8%. Hopefully these upticks are just statistical noise; we shall see.

Today being Wednesday, the state also released its Weekly COVID-19 Public Health Report. My town of Acton is listed as having 159 confirmed cases (for a rate of 669.98 cases per 100k population) and 2,019 persons tested (for a rate of 8507.43 persons tested per 100k population), for a "percent positivity" of 7.88%. The corresponding statewide numbers are 103,858 cases (1490.76 cases per 100k), 853,150 persons tested (12,245.96 persons tested per 100k), and 12.17% positive tests. Percent-positivity continues a downward trend, which is good; but I really wish I understood why the town's case count as reported by the state and the town's case count as reported by the town (see below) don't match.

The town of Acton has yet to post an update today. As of the most recent report at 9:30PM on Sunday 6/28, the town reported 173 cumulative cases with 0 individuals in isolation, 152 persons recovered and 21 fatalities.