Perhaps the City’s new mask mandate policy for indoor venues that went into effect two weeks ago is having some impact on stopping the spread of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus in Beacon Hill and throughout the city as some neighborhoods see a decline in cases.
Ahead of the mask mandate, Beacon Hill’s weekly positive COVID test rate spiked 31 percent between August 16 and August 23 but declined last week.
According to the weekly report released last Friday released by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), 2,453 Beacon Hill, Back Bay, North End, West End and Downtown residents were tested and 2.8 percent were positive. This was an 18 percent decrease from the 3.4 percent of residents that tested positive between August 23 and August 30.
Overall since the pandemic started 64,407 Beacon Hill, Back Bay, North End, West End and Downtown residents have been tested for COVID-19 and the data shows that 6.2 percent of those tested were COVID positive. This was a 3 percent decrease from the 6.4 percentage reported by the BPHC on August 30.
Citywide, the weekly positive test rate decreased about 3 percent last week. According to the BPHC 22,466 residents were tested and 3.5 percent were COVID positive–this was a 2.7 percent increase from the 3.6 percent reported by the BPHC on August 30.
The BPHC data released Monday showed Beacon Hill, Back Bay, North End, West End and Downtown had an infection rate of 714.2 cases per 10,000 residents–a 2 percent increase from the 699.8 cases per 10,000 residents reported on August 30.
Eighty additional residents have been infected with the virus between August 30 and September 6 and the total number of cases in the area increased to 3,980 cases overall since the pandemic began.
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 1.5 percent since August 30 and went from 75,888 cases to 77,015 confirmed cases in a week. There were five additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic is at 1,411.