Covid by Dave

Mass Covid 19 update. Pretty good news today. Cases dropped down to 7,181, which is a good sign, and they did 105,896 tests, bringing the Positive Test Rate down to 6.8%. Deaths were still pretty high, at sixty five. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,468,641 Total Confirmed Deaths: 21,346 Excellent news in the hospitals. One hundred and fourty four people got out of the hospital today and thirty three got out of the ICU. This is a good thing. That brings those numbers down to 2,377 and 363, respectively.

Mass Covid 19 update. Another day in the grind. Deaths stayed very high but most other things are reasonably good. Cases came in at 8,616, and they did 117,902 tests, so the Positive Test Rate ticked up to 7.3%, but still much lower than recently. Deaths were very high again, at eighty four. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,461,460 Total Confirmed Deaths: 21,281 Things are continuing to get better in the hospitals. Ninety six people got out of the hospital and nine got out of the ICU. That brings those numbers down to 2,521 and 396, respectively.

Thought we were experiencing a decline in cases so I re-did my Massachusetts New Covid Cases per Week chart to see what the situation was. Indeed, we are experiencing a decline. A pretty significant one. Hope these trends continue.

Mass Covid 19 update. More relatively good news. Cases stayed low and people are getting out of the hospital. Cases came in at 7,918, which is slightly higher than yesterday but relatively low given the past few weeks. They did 118,076 tests, so the Positive Test Rate dropped all the way down to 6.7%. You got to go back over a month to get a number that low. Deaths dropped down a little, but were still high at eighty. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,452,844 Total Confirmed Deaths: 21,197 More people getting out of the hospitals, but we had some backsliding in the ICU. Seventy one people got out of the hospital but six more went into the ICU. That brings those numbers to 2,617 and 405, respectively. We're down 606 patients in the past two weeks, so that's a good trend. Things were getting dicey there for a while.

Mass Covid 19 update. This is yesterday's report. Deaths were very high, but otherwise things are continuing to improve both with regards to case count and hospitalizations. Cases came in at 7,120, which is about a thousand less than the average over the weekend. They only did 72,564 tests but the lower case numbers dropped the Positive Test Rate down to 9.8%. Deaths were very high, coming in at a hundred and forty five. Ouch. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,444,926 Total Confirmed Deaths: 21,117 We passed 21,000 deaths today. Sob. More good news in the hospitals. Two hundred and ninety six people got out of the hospital, and thirty four got out of the ICU. These are the best numbers we've had in a while. That brings those numbers down to 2,688 and 399, respectively.  

Mass Covid 19 update. Things are doing much better is several ways. Cases came in at 24,512 for the weekend, which is only 8,171 per day, or a lot lower than recent weeks. They did 243,709 tests, so the Positive Test Rate continued to drop, to 10.1%. Deaths were relatively moderate, at seventy eight over the weekend, or 26 per day. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,437,806 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,972 More good news in the hospitals. One hundred and twenty one people got out of the hospital over the weekend, and thirteen got out of the ICU. That brings those numbers down to 2,984 and 433, respectively.

Mass Covid 19 update. Relatively good news, but deaths continue to be sky high. Cases dropped down again, to 13,935, and they did 134,317 tests, so the Positive Test Rate continues to drop, down to 10.4% This is a good thing and reflects a slowing of the Omicron surge. Deaths were super high though, at one hundred and two. Ouch. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,413,294 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,894 More good news in the hospitals. Thirty nine people got out of the hospital and sixteen got out of the ICU. That brings those numbers down to 3,105 and 446, respectively.

Mass Covid 19 update. Pretty good news today, although deaths are still very high. Cases continued to decline, dropping to 14,384, and they did 127,255 tests, so the Positive Test Rate dropped all the way down to 11.3%. That's the lowest it's been in a month. Deaths were still very high, at eighty six. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,399,359 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,792 Good news in the hospitals today. Forty three people got out of the hospital and thirteen got out of the ICU. That brings those numbers down to 3,144 and 462, respectively. Hopefully this trend continues.

Mass Covid 19 update. Mixed news today. Cases are down, but deaths skyrocketed up. Cases came in at 14,647, which is a decline from last week. They did 109,567 tests, so the Positive Test Rate continued it's trajectory downward to 13.4%. Deaths shot through the roof though, with ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE deaths today. Yikes. That's the most since May 6, 2020. Only three days in the whole pandemic have been higher. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,384,975 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,706 Relatively good news in the hospitals. Hospitalizations declined for the second day in a row, with five getting out of the hospital. ICU keeps ticking up though, with nine more people going in. That brings those numbers to 3,187 and 475, respectively.

Mass Covid 19 update. Some good news finally. Cases came in at 56,489 over four days, which is 14,121 per day, which is a lot less than last week and the week before. Between December 30 and January 13 we averaged 19,226 cases per day, with some days being much higher. They did 365,681 tests over the last four days, which brought the Positive Test Rate down to 15.4%. That's the lowest it's been since late December. Deaths were relatively moderate, coming in at 47 over four days, or about 12 a day. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,370,328 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,507 Good news in the hospitals too. Finally the hospitalization number dropped, with thirty one people getting out of the hospital. Six more went into the ICU. That brings those numbers to 3,192 and 466, respectively.

Some good news on the Covid front, which has been rare lately. They track the Covid levels in Boston wastewater, and it's been a pretty good indicator that a rise in cases is going to take place if the wastewater levels rise. Over this past surge, the wastewater levels have been off the charts, but recently that's been coming down to where it's back at December 1 levels as of the latest reporting. This is good. Hopefully our huge spike is cases will drop off significantly. It did drop down to 12,000 yesterday.

Some simple math to compare your risks of getting Covid based on if you are vaccinated or not. Massachusetts has 5.2 million people who are fully vaccinated. That means that there are 1.7 million people who are not fully vaccinated. 88,968 vaccinated people in Mass have come down with Covid since December 2020. About 700,000 unvaccinated people have come down with Covid since December 2020. That means that you have a 1.7% change of getting infected if you are fully vaccinated, and a 41% chance of getting infected if you are not vaccinated. Get vaxxed if you haven't yet. Those are pretty stark numbers.

Mass Covid 19 update. Good day for cases, not so much for deaths. Cases came in at 12,864, which is the lowest number we've had in more than two weeks. They did a lot fewer tests though, 74,491 to be exact, so that's one reason for the lower number of cases. The Positive Test Rate stayed mostly the same at 17.3%. Deaths spiked back up again, to sixty four. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,313,839 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,460 Things eased up in the hospitals a bit. Only 43 people went into the hospital today, and twenty four got OUT of the ICU. This is good. That brings those numbers to 3,223 and 460, respectively.

Mass Covid 19 update. Slightly better today but still slogging. Cases came in at 18,721, and they did 109,725 tests, so the Positive Test Rate continued it's drop to 17.1%. That's the lowest it's been in the last ten days. Deaths dropped down from the sky high numbers of the previous four days, to thirty six. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,300,975 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,396 Hospitals keep adding patients. Ninety three more people went into the hospital and eleven more went into the ICU. That brings those numbers up to 3,180 and 484, respectively.

Mass Covid 19 update. Cases ticked up again, and deaths were still very high, but at least the Positive Test Rate is coming down. Cases came in at 22,184, and they did 120,643 tests, so the Positive Test Rate dropped down to 18.4%. Deaths stayed very high, at seventy five. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,282,254 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,360 More bad news in the hospitals. One hundred and seventeen more people went into the hospital, and twenty one more went into the ICU. That brings those numbers up to 3,087 and 473, respectively. This is now the most people we've had in the hospital since the start of the pandemic.

Mass Covid 19 update. This is yesterday's report. Some improvement with cases but deaths were out of control. Cases came in at 17,802, which is lower than the weekend's average and much lower than last week. They did 91,106 tests, and the reduced number of cases dropped the Positive Test Rate down to 19.5%. Deaths were crazy though, with one hundred and sixteen people dying yesterday of Covid. Yikes. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,260,070 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,285 More bad news in the hospitals. Forty seven more people went into the hospital and twenty more went into the ICU. That brings those numbers up to 2,970 and 452, respectively.

Massachusetts had been kind of muddling along, until last month, when things went totally crazy. We had been averaging about 40,000 to 50,000 cases a month between August and November, but then we hit almost a quarter million last month, way higher than our previous peaks, which were under 150,000. Deaths have been moderate but they spiked last month and I'm expecting them to spike higher with the huge number of cases. The first ten days of last month we had 226 deaths. The first ten days of this month we've had 338 deaths.

Florida had a big spike back in August, when the Delta variant was making its rounds, and then things had dropped off quite a bit but they were back with a vengeance this past month, almost reaching their August peak. Deaths have been declining but that may reverse itself this coming month with all the cases they've had.

After four months of muddling along, Delaware had a huge increase in cases last month, exceeding previous peaks. Deaths haven't caught up yet but that may be in the future.

88,968 vaccinated people in Mass have come down with Covid since December 2020. Of these, 86,032 have not required hospitalization (96.7%) 2,224 have required hospitalization but have NOT died 463 have been hospitalized and subsequently died and 178 have died without being hospitalized So the death rate for vaccinated people is 0.7%. (623 our of 88,968) About 700,000 unvaccinated people have come down with Covid since December 2020, compared to 88,968 vaccinated, and about 7,000 of them have died, compared to 623. You can see the data here: https://www.mass.gov/doc/covid-19-cases-among-fully-vaccinated-individuals-in-massachusetts

Mass Covid 19 update. Bad weekend for the hospitals, but other things have moderated slightly. Cases came in at 60,986 for the weekend, which is 20,329 per day, or somewhat down from the previous three days. They did 298,689 tests, so the Positive Test Rate dropped down to 20.4%. Deaths were relatively moderate, with 53 for the weekend, or about 18 per day. Total Confirmed Cases: 1,242,268 Total Confirmed Deaths: 20,169 Bad news in the hospitals, like I was saying. Two hundred and eighty six more people went into the hospital, and eleven more went into the ICU. That brings those numbers up to 2,923 and 432, respectively.

Did a chart showing the number of deaths per 100,000 cases in Massachusetts. The first hundred thousand was by far the worst, with 7,300 deaths. No other hundred thousand has had more than 2,500, except for the second hundred thousand, which had 3,045. The past five hundred thousand have been getting steadily better in the deaths number, with two chunks around 850 followed by two chunks around 500 and the last hundred thousand only having 217. This is good considering the massive number of new cases we've had recently. It only took five days to get from one million to one hundred thousand more than that.