![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Local COVID-19 updates
Aug. 1st, 2020 07:38 pmThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been pretty good about posting its "COVID-19 Daily Dashboard" every afternoon at or slightly after 4:00PM. Today, for no obvious reason, the data wasn't made available until just after 7. There was a note on the COVID-19 Response Reporting page, right where the day's link is normally published, stating
Anyway, today the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 17 newly reported confirmed deaths (for a total of 8,406), 290 newly reported confirmed cases (for a total of 110,077), and 12,595 new patients tested by molecular tests (for a total of 1,193,200), with a total of 1,553,550 molecular tests administered to date. The ratio of newly confirmed cases to individuals tested by molecular test is 2.3%. The state also reported zero newly reported probable deaths (for a total of 220), 138 newly reported probable cases (for a total of 7,963), and 784 patients tested by antibody tests (for a total of 96,964). Combining the confirmed and probable numbers gives 17 new deaths (for a total of 8,626) and 428 new cases (for a total of 118,040).
The seven day average number of newly confirmed cases per day is 281.4 compared to 206.1 last week and 172.4 two weeks ago. The seven day average number of newly confirmed deaths per day is 16.4 compared to 12.9 last week and 15.1 two weeks ago. The seven day average number of molecular tests per day is 12,782.6 compared to 11,923.3 last week and 11,409.4 two weeks ago. The seven day average percentage of tests coming back positive per day is 2.2% compared to 1.8% last week and 1.5% two weeks ago. (The above averages are calculated from today's raw data download.)
And, once again, the daily dashboard comes with a note about data quality:
Today's the day that Massachusetts' new COVID-19 Travel Order goes into effect, whereby anyone coming into the state needs to quarantine themselves for two weeks unless they meet one of the exceptions. One of the main exceptions is when one is coming from a "COVID-19 Lower-risk State", which is defined as "meeting two criteria: average daily cases per 100K below 6 AND positive test rate below 5%, both measured as a 7-day rolling average." The state is apparently using https://www.covidexitstrategy.org/ as its source of information, and (as of July 21) listed Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii as "lower-risk states". Looking at today's numbers, Rhode Island (108 cases/million, 5.0% positive test rate and climbing) doesn't make the cut any more, and Hawaii (5.0% positive test rate and climbing) is in danger of dropping out. Arguably, Massachusetts itself would only qualify due to rounding (61 cases/million).
The town of Acton has yet to post an update today. As of the most recent report at 3PM on July 28,the town reported 183 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in Acton with 4 individuals in isolation, 158 recovered and 21 fatalities.
Today's data report will be posted as soon as it is availableI haven't seen anything explaining what the delay is due to. This is the second time in the last ten days that the data has been delayed, with (as yet) no word why.
Anyway, today the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 17 newly reported confirmed deaths (for a total of 8,406), 290 newly reported confirmed cases (for a total of 110,077), and 12,595 new patients tested by molecular tests (for a total of 1,193,200), with a total of 1,553,550 molecular tests administered to date. The ratio of newly confirmed cases to individuals tested by molecular test is 2.3%. The state also reported zero newly reported probable deaths (for a total of 220), 138 newly reported probable cases (for a total of 7,963), and 784 patients tested by antibody tests (for a total of 96,964). Combining the confirmed and probable numbers gives 17 new deaths (for a total of 8,626) and 428 new cases (for a total of 118,040).
The seven day average number of newly confirmed cases per day is 281.4 compared to 206.1 last week and 172.4 two weeks ago. The seven day average number of newly confirmed deaths per day is 16.4 compared to 12.9 last week and 15.1 two weeks ago. The seven day average number of molecular tests per day is 12,782.6 compared to 11,923.3 last week and 11,409.4 two weeks ago. The seven day average percentage of tests coming back positive per day is 2.2% compared to 1.8% last week and 1.5% two weeks ago. (The above averages are calculated from today's raw data download.)
And, once again, the daily dashboard comes with a note about data quality:
PLEASE NOTE: Due to ongoing delays in the reporting of test results to DPH, the case count today appears higher than usual. However, these positive test results have been assigned retrospectively to the appropriate date of test.Again, a mixed bag of day-to-day changes, but mostly bad news - confirmed cases down, but probable cases, confirmed deaths and the percent=positive rate all up. The seven-day averages for deaths, cases and the percent-positive rate continue to be trending in the wrong direction as well.
Today's the day that Massachusetts' new COVID-19 Travel Order goes into effect, whereby anyone coming into the state needs to quarantine themselves for two weeks unless they meet one of the exceptions. One of the main exceptions is when one is coming from a "COVID-19 Lower-risk State", which is defined as "meeting two criteria: average daily cases per 100K below 6 AND positive test rate below 5%, both measured as a 7-day rolling average." The state is apparently using https://www.covidexitstrategy.org/ as its source of information, and (as of July 21) listed Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii as "lower-risk states". Looking at today's numbers, Rhode Island (108 cases/million, 5.0% positive test rate and climbing) doesn't make the cut any more, and Hawaii (5.0% positive test rate and climbing) is in danger of dropping out. Arguably, Massachusetts itself would only qualify due to rounding (61 cases/million).
The town of Acton has yet to post an update today. As of the most recent report at 3PM on July 28,the town reported 183 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in Acton with 4 individuals in isolation, 158 recovered and 21 fatalities.