Between July 5 and July 11, Massachusetts reported an average of 85 COVID-19 cases each day. In the same seven-day period, the death toll rose by 12.
Cases reached a seven-day high of 169 on July 9, and a low of 61 on July 7.
All data reported on July 6 — when 269 new cases were reported — includes data from July 3 to 5 due, in part, to Massachusetts no longer reporting COVID-19 data over the weekend.
Cases topped 100 for the first time since June 13 on Friday. Previously cases were averaging under 100 every day since—a mark the state had never previously hit over the course of the pandemic. Now with the rise of the Delta variant, the state observed three consecutive days of over 100 cases.
The state reports two COVID-19 positivity rates—one with higher education testing and one without. On Sunday, the seven-day test positivity rate with higher education testing removed sat at 0.6 percent; this time last week, the rate was 0.5 percent. The rate that includes higher education sits at 0.5 percent.
The state reported a seven-day average of 86 hospitalizations on Sunday, down from the 100 reported this time last week.
Over the past week, Massachusetts reported 55,699 new vaccinations, bringing the state’s total to 8,685,809. 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 304 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 2,715 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.
