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April 16, 2021

Worcester, Worcester County hit 2-month high in COVID cases

Photo | Grant Welker Clinton Hospital
By Grant Welker

New coronavirus cases hit a two-month high in the week ending Thursday in Worcester and across Worcester County, posing a continuing public health challenge even as businesses reopen and far more residents are vaccinated.

Cases weren't up so substantially from previous weeks, but the slow rise that's followed a sharp fall in cases after the winter spike mirrors the same worrying trend taking place across Massachusetts and the United States. Massachusetts cases fell slightly in the past week but stand 42% higher than at the start of March, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.

Worcester County had 1,378 new cases in the week ending Thursday, the most since 1,961 were reported in the week ending Feb. 11. The county now has a total of 73,253 cases since the pandemic began.

The city of Worcester has had 364 newly reported cases in the past week, also its most since Feb. 11. The city reported 550 cases that week. Worcester now has 22,734 cases, or roughly 12% of its population.

Across Massachusetts, 12,787 new cases have been reported in the last seven days, for a new total of 626,550 since the start of the pandemic.

Worcester's two hospital systems, Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health, saw a sharp increase in their number of patients positive for COVID-19 in the past week, rising by 40 to reach a total of 87, according to the city. The two systems had 23 total intensive care coronavirus patients as of Thursday, a weekly increase of three.

In a more promising trend, deaths continue to fall sharply statewide.

Worcester County had eight new deaths reported in the past week, for a total of 2,177 since the start of the pandemic. The city of Worcester reported one new death, reaching a total of 418. The statewide total rose by 65 and now stands at 17,087.

Vaccinations also continue to rise.

There have been 52,116 doses administered at Worcester State University, according to the city, up by 7,438 in one week. Statewide, more than 573,000 doses have been given in the past week, with more than 1.9 million people fully vaccinated, according to the DPH.

A note on the coronavirus figures

State, Worcester County and City of Worcester cases and deaths are weekly as of each Thursday. State and Worcester County numbers were previously as of each Wednesday until late October. Worcester County's case total included confirmed and suspected cases through Aug. 12, after which it includes only confirmed cases. Worcester County's death total was revised downward by four on June 30, and is an estimate based on state-reported totals through early August, and estimated numbers from that point forward based on most recent two-week reporting. The City of Worcester retroactively added cases on June 4. State and county data is according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and Worcester data is according to the City of Worcester. Weekly testing periods varied between six- and eight-day ranges for some weeks, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

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