COVID-19 in Massachusetts: 37 new deaths, 5,192 new cases

BOSTON (SHNS/WWLP) – The Massachusetts Department of Public Health added 5,192 more cases of COVID-19 to the state’s total Friday and also reported 37 additional deaths related to the virus.

The new cases came from 96,701 new tests and DPH said the state’s seven-day average positive test rate is 5.44 percent, or 7.48 percent when leaving out tests from higher education institutions. DPH estimated that there are 51,371 people in Massachusetts with active cases of the highly-infectious coronavirus. That’s roughly equal to the population of Peabody.

State officials also reported 37 recent COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 10,674 people with confirmed cases of the disease or 10,910 people when counting those who died with probable cases of COVID-19. About 4.6 percent of all people who have been infected with COVID-19 in Massachusetts have died of it.

Hospitals were treating 1,394 COVID-19 patients as of 3 p.m. Thursday, an increase of 70 patients from the previous day. Two-hundred and seventy-eight patients are being cared for in an intensive care unit, including 134 people who require the help of a ventilator to breathe, DPH said. A month ago, there were 502 people hospitalized with COVID-19.

Statewide, 80 percent of non-ICU hospital beds are full, though not all with COVID-19 patients. Available ICU capacity is at 38 percent, DPH said, but ranges from 0 percent availability in the northeast part of the state to 50 percent capacity in central, western, and southeastern Massachusetts.

Since last Friday, Massachusetts has confirmed 25,708 new cases of COVID-19 and announced 275 COVID-19 deaths, the state’s seven-day average positive test rate has climbed 66 percent from 3.28 percent to 5.44 percent, 408 more people are hospitalized, and statewide hospital capacity has dropped from 35 percent to 20 percent of non-ICU beds and from 53 percent to 38 percent of ICU beds.