Between July 12 and July 19, Massachusetts reported an average of 242 COVID-19 cases each day. In the same eight-day period, the death toll rose by 13.
Cases reached an individual day high of 236 on July 15, and a low of 191 on July 13.
All data reported on July 12 — when 322 new cases were reported—includes data from July 9 to 11. All data from July 19—when 717 new cases were reported— includes data from July 16 to 18. These numbers are due to the state’s department of health halting all COVID-19 reports over weekends and have been excluded from the seven-day high.
Cases topped 200 for the first time since June 5; previously, cases were regularly averaging under 100. Now with the rise of the Delta variant, the state observed three consecutive days of over 200 cases reported.
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 testing removed sat at 1.1 percent; this time last week, the rate was 0.6 percent. The rate that includes higher education sits at 1 percent.
The state reported an eight-day average of 93 hospitalizations per day on Monday, up from the 86 reported this time last week.
Over the eight days, Massachusetts reported 61,703 new vaccinations, bringing the state’s total to 8,786,702. More than 62 percent of the state’s population is 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. Massachusetts reached its goal of fully vaccinating 4.1 million residents on June 22.
Emerson reported zero new positive COVID-19 tests in the past week, out of the 322 tests administered. Zero community members were reported to be in on-campus isolation or quarantine.
Since summer testing began on May 3, Emerson has reported one positive test out of the 3,342 tests administered.
The spring semester testing cycle concluded with 169 positive COVID-19 tests reported and a positivity rate of 0.21 percent, compared to the 60 cases and 0.12 percent positivity rate reported in the fall. Over the fall and spring semesters, 229 positive tests were reported, adding up to a 0.17 percent positivity rate.
The college’s dashboard is typically 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.
