Massachusetts reported 1,248 new coronavirus cases Monday, down from the 1,412 new infections reported Sunday. The death toll rose by 26.
COVID-19 cases have fallen below 2,000 in the state each day for the past three weeks, after topping that mark each day from Nov. 30 to Feb. 2.
The state reports two COVID-19 positivity rates—one with higher education testing and one without. On Monday, the seven-day test positivity rate with higher education removed sat at 2.9 percent, down from the 3.1 percent reported this time last week. The rate that includes higher education sits at 1.8 percent.
The state reported 788 total hospitalizations on Monday, down from the 888 reported this time last week. Monday’s total marks the ninth time hospitalizations dipped under 1,000 since Nov. 26—the ninth straight day.
Massachusetts reported 33,175 vaccinations administered on Monday, bringing the state’s total to 1,769,652.
Emerson reported one new positive test out of 1,006 new tests administered on Friday, Feb. 26. The college’s cumulative positive tests at 145. Emerson’s cumulative testing total sits at 81,343.
Since testing resumed on Jan. 11, the college has reported 85 positive tests—topping the 60 reported over the entire fall semester—and a positivity rate of .27 percent.
The latest dashboard update on Monday reported two community members in isolation on campus and three in quarantine on campus.
Those in quarantine may have been exposed to COVID-19 but aren’t experiencing symptoms. Those in isolation are symptomatic, have produced a positive test, or are “reasonably known to be infected,” according to the college. Off-campus students are not counted in the quarantine and isolation numbers.
Emerson shifted from a manual data reporting process to an automatic one on Oct. 13. The decision followed a Beacon investigation that revealed a string of inaccuracies in the data reported by the college.
The college’s dashboard is updated daily Monday through Friday. When it was first launched in August, the college opted for weekly updates before eventually shifting to twice weekly and then daily updates. Tabs for hospitalizations and the number of “invalid” results received by community members have since been removed from the dashboard after testing began in August. Invalid results are typically a result of user error and require re-testing.
Administrators said in August the decision to remove hospitalizations was part of an effort to increase transparency, as the college was concerned it could not accurately track the metric. Invalid results were deemed “not valuable” data by “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp.
The dashboard is not updated on weekends because Emerson’s testing site at Tufts Medical Center is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
