Worcester County and Massachusetts broke streaks of weekly coronavirus case increases on Thursday, while the city of Worcester’s case rose in what the city manager said he hopes is a blip.
Worcester had 359 new cases in the past week reported Thursday, its highest total since the week ending Feb. 11, just as the city was coming down from all-time highs in mid-winter. That brings Worcester to 22,370 total cases since the pandemic began.
“We hope that’s a blip and not a trend, but we’re going to keep a close eye on that going forward,” City Manager Edward Augustus said in a press conference at City Hall.
Hospitalized coronavirus patients at Worcester’s two hospital systems, Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health, showed a mixed picture. Coronavirus inpatient numbers were down one to 47, while the number of intensive-care patients rose by six to hit 20. Those numbers are far below where they stood during last spring’s spike. The two hospital systems have had 710 total reported coronavirus patient deaths.
Worcester County’s new weekly counts were a bit more promising, according to new data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Cases were 1,258 in the past week, breaking a stretch of two consecutive weeks of increases. Worcester County now has 71,875 cases since the pandemic began.
Across Massachusetts, cases were down to 13,131 to hit a new total of 613,763. The state broke a four-week stretch of case increases.
Worcester County had 14 newly reported deaths, its lowest weekly total since early November, for a new total of 2,169. Worcester had one new death reported in the past week to reach a new total of 417. Massachusetts reported 346 new deaths, up significantly from 205 the previous week, for a new total of 17,022.
