COVID hospitalizations jump in weekend updates

More than 1,100 people in Massachusetts were newly diagnosed with COVID-19 over the weekend as hospitalizations spiked and both Saturday and Sunday saw positive test rates jump above three percent.

The Department of Public Health reported 515 new coronavirus cases on Saturday and another 594 new cases on Sunday, raising the state's cumulative caseload to 128,426 people. DPH also announced the recent deaths of 18 people Saturday and 13 people Sunday, increasing the confirmed death toll to 9,191, or 9,404 when counting people who died with probable cases.

Saturday's 515 new cases came from testing 14,310 new people, which works out to a positivity rate of 3.6 percent. Sunday's 594 cases came from tests of 18,065 new people, or 3.29 percent positive. Meanwhile, the state's seven-day average positive test rate -- which represents the share of all tests that come back positive, not people who test positive -- remains at 0.8 percent as of Sunday, DPH said.

At the same time that the number of daily new cases inches upwards and the number of active cases of the highly-contagious virus continues a climb it started in July, Massachusetts hospitals on Sunday saw a spike in COVID-19 patients needing to be hospitalized. There were 408 being treated for COVID-19 in a hospital as of midday Sunday, an increase of 54 from Saturday, DPH said. Sunday's spike more than erased the decrease of 35 patients between Friday and Saturday.

In the last month, the three-day average number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized is up more than 27 percent, according to DPH.

As of Monday, restaurants can seat groups of up to 10 people at indoor or outdoor tables, up from the previous limit of six people, and diners can eat at bar seating as well. When he announced the eased rules last week, Gov. Charlie Baker said "the evidence from other states with respect to this issue is clear" and that bar seating could be done safely.


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