Massachusetts reported 968 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, a significant fall from the 1,236 new infections report Monday. The death toll rose by three.
Tuesday’s total marks the first time cases have dropped under 1,000 since March 8. Cases have regularly been dipping below 2,000 in the past week after not clearing that margin from Feb. 12 to Mar. 26.
The state reports two COVID-19 positivity rates—one with higher education testing and one without. On Tuesday, the seven-day test positivity rate with higher education testing removed sat at 3.7, down from the 4.2 percent reported this time last week. The rate that includes higher education sits at 2.1 percent.
The state reported 708 hospitalizations Tuesday, down from the 714 reported this time last week. Hospitalizations are on the decline after slowly rising over the past three weeks.
On Tuesday, Massachusetts reported 79,162 new vaccinations, bringing the state’s total to 5,209,620. Almost 30 percent of the state’s population—more than 2 million residents—are now fully inoculated against COVID-19—meaning they have received both doses of the vaccines manufactured by Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the use of which is currently on pause to investigate rare blood clots that occurred in six individuals who received the shot.
Emerson reported no new positive COVID-19 tests Tuesday out of the 897 tests administered Monday, the first time no daily positives have been reported in three weeks.
The spring semester’s positive tests total remains at 166, an increase of about 177 percent from the 60 positives reported in the fall semester.
Tuesday’s dashboard update also reported five community members in isolation on campus and one in quarantine on campus. This time last week, 22 community members were reported to be in on campus isolation and 29 in on campus quarantine.
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.
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.
