Not a local COVID-19 update - yet

It's four o'clock on a Friday afternoon, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ... does not have its daily COVID-19 dashboard posted yet. SIgh.

There is a slightly-informative note on the state's COVID-19 Response Reporting page:

Today's data report will be posted as soon as it is available.

Of course, there's no clue as to why the report is late. Last time they supposedly had an issue with Amazon Web Services messing up reporting.

Meanwhile, of course, the big COVID-19 news concerns the big new cluster of COVID-19 cases in the White House, with both the President and his wife Melania testing positive and showing "mild" symptoms:
( Read more... )

Also reported as positive are advisor Hope Hicks, Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, and some number of members of the White House press corps.

Local COVID-19 updates

As of 4PM today [1], the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 10 newly reported confirmed deaths (13 less than yesterday - down 56.5%) for a total of 9,275 deaths, 753 newly reported confirmed cases (45 more than yesterday - up 6.4%) for a total of 131,214 cases, and 21,451 new patients tested by molecular tests (3,292 more than yesterday - up 18.1%) for a total of 2,273,812 individuals tested, with a total of 4,200,018 molecular tests administered to date. The ratio of newly confirmed cases to individuals tested by molecular test is 3.5%, compared to 3.9% yesterday. The state also reported zero newly reported probable deaths (1 less than yesterday) for a total of 215 deaths, and 8 newly reported probable cases (38 less than yesterday - down 82.6%) for a total of 2,417 cases. The state also reported 392 patients tested by antibody tests (225 more than yesterday - up 134.7%) for a total of 120,977 patients, and 508 patients tested by antigen tests (1,329 less than yesterday - down 72.3%) for a total of 134,197 patients. Combining the confirmed and probable numbers gives 10 new deaths for a total of 9,490 and 761 new cases for a total of 133,631.

The seven day average number of newly confirmed cases per day is 556.7 compared to 392.4 last week (up 41.9%) and 338.3 two weeks ago (up 64.6%). The seven day average number of newly confirmed deaths per day is 16.4 compared to 14.4 last week (up 13.9%) and 12.6 two weeks ago (up 30.7%). The seven day average number of molecular tests per day is 16,223.1 compared to 16,246.7 last week (down 0.1%) and 17,272.1 two weeks ago (down 6.1%). The seven day average percentage of tests coming back positive per day is 3.4% compared to 2.3% last week and 2.0% two weeks ago. (The above averages are calculated from today's raw data download.)

Of the Commonwealth's four "key metrics" listed on page 2 of the report, the seven-day weighted average positive test rate is 1.1%, 46% above the lowest observed value of 0.8% on September 21. The three-day average number of COVID-19 patients in hospital is 432, 43% above the lowest observed value of 302 on August 29. The number of hospitals using surge capacity is 3, 3 above the lowest observed value of 0 on September 5. The three-day average number of COVID-19 deaths is 14, 54% above the lowest observed value of 9 on September 7.

The good news first: day-to-day, deaths are down again (both confirmed and probable), and the number of people tested rose faster than the number of new cases. That said, the confirmed case counts are still up day-to-day, the seven-day averages are all still moving in the wrong direction, and three of the four "key metrics" the state is supposedly watching like a hawk are all still 40+% above their lowest observed values from late August and early September.

Meanwhile, Governor Baker is apparently still determined to allow more indoor business venues to reopen; the Boston Globe Editorial Board says "Not so fast":
( Read more... )

The town of Acton has yet to post an update today. As of the most recent report at 8:15PM on September 28, the town of Acton reported 207 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in town with 5 individuals in isolation, 181 recovered and 21 fatalities.

[1] Well, more like 4:30PM.