Updated: June 4, 2020
Flaw in reporting pushes Worcester city's COVID cases near 5,000, as Worcester County crosses 11.5K threshold Thursday
Photo | Grant Welker
Worcester City Hall
By Riley Garand
A newly reported flaw in the City of Worcester's system for tracking coronavirus cases on Thursday added hundreds of new cases to the city's tally, bringing it to nearly 5,000.
The city reported 656 new cases it said had erroneously not been accounted for since the start of the pandemic. Those cases, along with 34 new cases from Wednesday's total, bring the city to 4,949.
The revision means the city's case total has actually been 15% higher than previously believed.
City officials blamed the shortfall in reported cases on what they aid was a flaw in the reporting system. The city said it used an algorithm not accounting for changes — such as false negatives, recounted individuals or address changes such as at long-term care facilities or businesses — that took place outside of a four-day window from which data was pulled for reporting.
A new method of reporting will continue to have some fluctuation but will more closely reflect statewide numbers, the city said in a statement late Thursday.
The revised total puts Worcester in an even more pronounced standing as a city especially hard hit by the pandemic. The city has twice as many cases as the whole state of Maine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or roughly as many as six states or territories combined: Vermont, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Montana and Wyoming.
In other newly reported data Thursday, Worcester County had 64 new coronavirus cases and two more fatalities, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The new cases contribute to the 11,529 total in the county.
Throughout Massachusetts, the total probable and confirmed coronavirus cases increased to 102,063. There were 412 reported confirmed cases and 59 probable cases statewide on Thursday.
The new fatalities in Worcester County bring the total to 806. Statewide, the death toll increased by 50 to 7,201 fatalities from either confirmed or probable cases.
The Worcester metropolitan area, which includes Worcester County and Connecticut's Windham County, has tied for the nation's eighth highest coronavirus fatality rate in the past two weeks, according to tracking by The New York Times. The rate was 0.2 deaths per 1,000 residents.
The Worcester metro area has been hit 15th hardest when measured by deaths per capita during the pandemic, and 22nd worst when measured by cases per capita, according to the Times' reporting.
Hospitalizations in Central Massachusetts continue to slowly fall.
Image | WBJ Source: City of Worcester
The total includes 656 added retroactively on June 4.
Image | WBJ Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Note: The state began adding probably cases and deaths to confirmed ones beginning June 1.
UMass Memorial Health Care and Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester reported 138 hospitalized coronavirus patients Thursday, and 46 in intensive care. The hospitals have had 295 total deaths, and 340 employees have tested positive for the coronavirus.
MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick report 35 total confirmed or suspected cases, and Milford Regional Medical Center reports 12, according to DPH. Between the hospitals, there were 11 suspected or confirmed cases in intensive care. Harrington Hospital, Heywood Hospital, and HealthAlliance reported 34 total confirmed and suspected cases, and 12 in the ICU.
DPH reported Thursday 8,137 newly administered coronavirus tests. The numbers consist of either antibody or molecular tests given in the state for the virus.
Nationally, there are close to 3.9 million cases and 107,979 total fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Globally, there are now close to 6.6 million cases and 388,499 deaths.
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