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Local COVID-19 updates
Mar. 16th, 2023 06:31 pmJust to make it even more official, the state is now including an alert about lifting the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency on May 11 at the top of their COVID-19 Response Reporting page.
( Wall-o-text, covering 7 days of data )
Statewide, newly reported confirmed deaths are down substantially to 49 and newly reported confirmed cases are down a bit to 2,612. Newly reported probable deaths and cases are also down from last week; in a not particularly pleasant milestone, the total number of probable cases broke the two hundred thousand mark this week. Hospitalization counts are down compared to last week at this time, as are all four seven-day averages. Unfortunately, the number of formally reported tests is also down, which rather reduces my confidence that the reported case numbers accurately reflect the actual infection numbers. The state last had a trailing-seven-day count of newly reported cases this low on July 23, 2021, when 2,603 new cases were reported over the previous week, compared to today's 2,612; for the seven days prior to and including July 23, the state reported almost four times as many tests (207,630 then versus 57,051 now).
The numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also trending in good directions, with eleven of fourteen counties (including my own county of Middlesex) in Massachusetts showing moderate community transmission and all fourteen showing low COVID Community Level. The current CDC guidance (based on community level) would imply no need for indoor public masking, as would the older guidance (based on community transmission level). However, as I note above, I don't buy that there are really that few a number of infectious folks wandering around as the official case rates imply.
Oh, and just in case anyone wants to claim that COVID isn't a problem? Maternal mortality climbed dramatically during the pandemic, according to a new study:
( Read more... )
( Wall-o-text, covering 7 days of data )
Statewide, newly reported confirmed deaths are down substantially to 49 and newly reported confirmed cases are down a bit to 2,612. Newly reported probable deaths and cases are also down from last week; in a not particularly pleasant milestone, the total number of probable cases broke the two hundred thousand mark this week. Hospitalization counts are down compared to last week at this time, as are all four seven-day averages. Unfortunately, the number of formally reported tests is also down, which rather reduces my confidence that the reported case numbers accurately reflect the actual infection numbers. The state last had a trailing-seven-day count of newly reported cases this low on July 23, 2021, when 2,603 new cases were reported over the previous week, compared to today's 2,612; for the seven days prior to and including July 23, the state reported almost four times as many tests (207,630 then versus 57,051 now).
The numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also trending in good directions, with eleven of fourteen counties (including my own county of Middlesex) in Massachusetts showing moderate community transmission and all fourteen showing low COVID Community Level. The current CDC guidance (based on community level) would imply no need for indoor public masking, as would the older guidance (based on community transmission level). However, as I note above, I don't buy that there are really that few a number of infectious folks wandering around as the official case rates imply.
Oh, and just in case anyone wants to claim that COVID isn't a problem? Maternal mortality climbed dramatically during the pandemic, according to a new study:
( Read more... )