Beacon Hill and the surrounding area’s weekly positive test rate decreased slightly as the highly infectious BA.5 Omicron sub variant continues to grip the nation.
Last week, the Biden administration renewed the COVID public-health emergency through mid-October as the city, state, and nation are in the midst of the U.S.’s second-largest surge since the pandemic began in 2020. On the heels of the public-health emergency extension, the CDC said COVID hospital admissions would increase more than fourfold by August 5.
According to the latest data by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) Beacon Hill and the surrounding area’s weekly COVID infection rate has been steadily increasing but dropped last week. However, slightly more than 1 out of every 10 people testing for the vitus have been found to be positive.
Last week, 848 Beacon Hill, Back Bay, North End, West End and Downtown residents were tested for the virus last week and 10.5 percent were positive–this was a 18 percent decrease from the 12.8 percent that tested positive between July 4 and July 11.
Eighty nine additional residents contracted the virus between July 11 and July 18 and there have now been 11,618 confirmed cases in the neighborhood since the start of the pandemic.
Boston’s citywide weekly positive test rate increased last week
According to the BPHC, 11,189 Boston residents tested citywide and 9.8 percent were positive—a 21 percent increase from the 8.1 percent that tested positive between July 4 and July 11.
Adult COVID-19 Hospitalizations in Boston are now averaging 141.7 per day. This metric helps the BPHC understand the burden of serious COVID-19 cases among adults resulting in inpatient care in Boston hospitals. It includes the total number of adult hospitalizations among Boston and non-Boston residents for COVID-19.
The statistics released by the BPHC as part of its weekly COVID19 report breaks down the number of cases and infection rates in each neighborhood. It also breaks down the number of cases by age, gender and race.
Citywide positive cases of coronavirus increased 0.6 percent last week and went from 195,825 to 196,932 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
There were two additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total number of COVID deaths is now at 1,495.