Local COVID-19 updates

[edschweppe]

As of 5PM today, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 29 newly reported confirmed deaths (13 less than yesterday - down 31.0%) for a total of 16,247 deaths, 1,577 newly reported confirmed cases (12 less than yesterday - down 0.8%) for a total of 565,560 cases, and 99,912 newly reported molecular tests (10,473 less than yesterday - down 9.5%). The seven day average positivity rate is 1.77%, compared to 1.72% yesterday. Excluding higher education, the seven day average positivity rate is 3.05%, compared to 2.98% yesterday. The number of estimated active cases was 25,858 (43 less than yesterday - down 0.2%). The state also reported zero newly reported probable deaths (same as yesterday) for a total of 333 and 209 newly reported probable cases (11 less than yesterday - down 5.0%) for a total of 33,299. Combining the confirmed and probable numbers gives 29 new deaths for a total of 16,580 and 1,786 new cases for a total of 598,859. There were 641 COVID-19 patients in hospital (39 less than yesterday - down 5.7%), 170 COVID-19 patients in ICUs (6 less than yesterday - down 3.4%) and 116 COVID-19 patients on ventilators (intubated) (6 less than yesterday - down 4.9%).

Of the four overview trends (formerly the Page 2 "key metrics"), the 7-day average of newly confirmed cases is 1,017.0 (11 more than yesterday - up 1.1%), 547% above the lowest observed value of 157.0 on 7/4/2020 and 84.0% below the highest observed value of 6,241.0 on 1/8/2021. The 7-day weighted average of positive molecular test rate is 1.77% (0 more than yesterday - up 3.3%), 130% above the lowest observed value of 0.8% on 9/21/2020 and 94% below the highest observed value of 27.7% on 4/15/2020. The 7-day average number of COVID-19 patients in hospital is 682.0 (12 less than yesterday - down 1.7%), 340% above the lowest observed value of 155.0 on 8/26/2020 and 83% below the highest observed value of 3,874.0 on 4/27/2020. The 7-day average number of COVID-19 deaths is 32.0 (same as yesterday), 190% above the lowest observed value of 11.0 on 9/9/2020 and 82% below the highest observed value of 175.0 on 4/24/2020.

Statewide, hospitals reported 9,149 non-ICU beds, of which 7,230 (79.0%) were occupied by non-COVID patients, 471 (5.1%) were occupied by COVID patients, and 1,448 (15.8%) remained available. Hospitals also reported 1,423 ICU beds, of which 890 (62.5%) were occupied by non-COVID patients, 170 (11.9%) were occupied by COVID patients, and 363 (25.5%) remained available. By comparison, hospitals reported yesterday a total of 9,194 non-ICU beds, of which 7,289 (79.3%) were occupied by non-COVID patients, 504 (5%) were occupied by COVID patients, and 1,401 (15.2%) remained available. Hospitals also reported yesterday a total of 1,419 ICU beds, of which 875 (61.7%) were occupied by non-COVID patients, 176 (12.4%) were occupied by COVID patients, and 368 (25.9%) remained available.

Two weeks ago, the 7 day confirmed case average was 1,166.0, the 7 day confirmed deaths average was 37.0, the 7 day hospitalization average was 899.0, and the 7 day weighted average positivity rate was 1.90% (or 3.10% excluding higher education).

The daily raw data file used to create this report is available here.

Day-to-day deaths and cases both down - but so were tests, and percent-positive actually went up a bit. Not a thing I want to see when Governor Charlie Baker is hell-bent on reopening businesses and forcing schools into in-person teaching, ready or not. What I want to see are continued downward trends; we're seeing that right now for hospitalizations, which is good, but not really for the other main metrics. And while things are certainly better than at the beginning of the year, things are still much worse than last summer. (Just look at those seven-day averages; each one is still at least twice the lowest observed value.)

The Commonwealth's new and "improved" vaccination preregistration system successfully launched this morning:

Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents entered their information Friday into the new preregistration system for COVID-19 vaccine appointments at the seven mass sites, as a local civil rights organization implored the state to do more to reach people of color and immigrant communities.

"I think we're up to about 200,000 people preregistered at this point, which is great," said Governor Charlie Baker during a briefing Friday morning, hours after the new system went live.

But the Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights said in a statement that "people of color and immigrants remain effectively locked out of equitable vaccine access."

The group said it's "now convening medical providers and grassroots groups to explore community-based interventions such as setting up vaccination tents and hosting mobile vaccination units," and that it "stands ready to protect the rights of people of color and immigrants. We also stand ready to partner with state authorities and the medical community to ensure just and equitable vaccine distribution."

[ ... ]

New state data, however, released Thursday reveals striking disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates in the 20 Massachusetts cities and towns hardest hit by the pandemic, especially among Latino residents who lag behind other racial and ethnic groups in inoculation rates. In Lawrence, where 82 percent of the population is Latino, just 2 percent of Latino residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine, compared with 47 percent of white residents, who make up just 12 percent of the population. Similar disparities were found in Chelsea, Holyoke, and other cities.

[ ... ]

On Friday, Baker returned to his oft-repeated themes of the need for more vaccine supply from the federal government and the hopes he has for the Johnson & Johnson single-dose option to speed up the process.

His Friday briefing came one day after President Biden pledged in his first prime-time address Thursday night to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the possibility of beginning to "mark our independence from this virus" by the Fourth of July.

"I think getting to the president's objective is absolutely doable, but it's going to require a significant increase in available supply to be able to deliver that kind of volume over a reasonably short period of time," Baker said. "So if they really do deliver at the end of March, the beginning of April, the end of April, the kinds of numbers that people have projected they may be able to deliver, then I think the president's objectives are absolutely achievable."

I took a quick peek at the new system, https://vaccinesignup.mass.gov/, which currently only supports the seven mass vaccination sites. The https://vaxfinder.mass.gov/ site no longer shows whether any of the mass vaccination sites have appointments available, which makes it that much less helpful to somebody hoping to find openings. I guess the good news is that neither of those sites is throwing random HTTP error codes?

Unsurprisingly, the vaccination follies are leaving folks less and less impressed with Baker's performance dealing with the pandemic:

Public approval of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has dropped significantly from its high levels during the early days of the pandemic last spring, according to new survey results released on Friday.

"Governor Baker has seen a gradual decline in approval for his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak throughout the pandemic, starting at a remarkably high 80% approval ... and suffering a gradual decline to 59%," according to a report from a joint project of Northeastern University, Harvard University, Rutgers University, and Northwestern University.

The Republican governor, who has led the state through the deadly pandemic for a year, has most recently been presiding over a vaccination campaign that has left many residents frustrated.

David Lazer, a Northeastern University political science and computer science professor who worked on the report, said researchers found a general decline among governors across the United States in their constituents' approval of their handling of the pandemic.

But he added, "Massachusetts did have a particular challenge in January and February with the vaccine rollout. And you do see Baker suffer a particular drop in this last round. One would guess that was because of the bumpy rollout of vaccines. I think he's taken a hit as a result."

Researchers from the COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public's Policy Preferences Across States looked at Massachusetts results gathered during multiple waves of a 50-state survey from late April 2020 until March 1, 2021.

A spokeswoman for the governor's office didn't immediately return an e-mail seeking comment Friday morning.

Another finding from the surveys: Among Massachusetts residents, approval of former Republican president Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic dropped from 35 percent in April 2020 to 21 percent in January 2021, just before he left office.

By contrast, the researchers noted, Democratic President Joe Biden had more than triple that approval in Massachusetts, 68 percent, as of March 1.

[ ... ]

In another report issued Friday on their survey data, researchers found that Massachusetts had the lowest level of vaccine resistance among the 50 states, with only 9 percent of the people saying that they would not get their shots. At the other end of the spectrum, 33 percent of residents in Oklahoma and North Dakota said they would not get shots.

The town of Acton's current Google Data Studio dashboard is showing 14 active and 794 cumulative cases as of March 10, and has apparently not been updated since. The most recent "newsflash style update" at 10PM on March 10, 2021 reported 791 cumulative cases with 18 individuals in isolation, 741 persons recovered and 32 fatalities.