Massachusetts health officials announced another 16 deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, raising the death count statewide to 8,265.
Authorities also confirmed another 270 cases of the virus, bringing the state total to at least 107,683. That is based on 16,133 new molecular tests reported Thursday.
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased significantly on Thursday from 532 on Wednesday to 351 on Thursday.
Health officials noted in Thursday’s report, which was released nearly five hours later than normal, that the decrease was due to “more accurate accounting of which patients should be reported as” suspected COVID patients, “they wrote. The authorities.
“In response to mandatory reporting requirements from federal hospitals, hospitals and the Department of Public Health have experienced technical difficulties and data integrity problems when reporting data,” said Ann Scales, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health, in a email.
“Given the importance of this particular metric, the state proactively validated COVID-19 notification of hospitalizations with almost all acute care hospitals,” the officials wrote, regarding hospitalization data.
“DPH and the reporting hospitals are doing everything possible to mitigate these challenges,” the officials wrote.
Authorities did not elaborate on why there was such a large decrease in reported hospitalizations.
The latest information comes when the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released a guide Wednesday detailing the reopening of the state’s school districts.
Major facility changes are described for most schools, including, but not limited to, the reconfiguration of classroom desks to allow for social distancing; installation of plexiglass barriers; and the installation of additional hand washing and disinfection stations.
In the weeks leading up to the reopening in September, schools are asked to create an inventory of all their available spaces, including classrooms, auditoriums and libraries, and to consider such spaces for additional classrooms to allow for smaller classes.
The guide also requires that students spend as much time as possible with a single group of students, rather than changing from one room to another and mixing with other groups of students.
Cape Cod officials warned Thursday that they are seeing an increase in cases over the past week. Those concerns arise when at least 10 people who attended a party in the city of Chatham on Cape Cod on July 12 tested positive for COVID-19, Cape health officials said this week.
“The last time our case looked like this was in mid-May,” Senator Julian Cyr, a Democrat from Truro, said during a Cape Cod reopening Task Force call. “This is a trend, not it’s a spike, and these numbers may be related to an isolated event and seem, at least in the last few days, to be going down. “
Between July 16 and 22, Barnstable County reported 51 new confirmed infections, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. During the previous four weeks, the weekly increase in cases averaged 24.
On Tuesday, Baker extended the state’s moratorium on evictions and foreclosures until Oct. 17 amid unprecedented levels of unemployment during the pandemic. Baker also unveiled a tentative $ 5.5 billion budget for August on Tuesday, as lawmakers continue to assess the economic consequences of the pandemic and how it will affect the 2021 fiscal budget.
Massachusetts is still in Phase 3 of Baker’s reopening plan. The availability of a vaccine will be required before the state enters the final phase of reopening, Baker said.
Coronavirus en masse: view cases, maps, charts and resources
These are the cases listed by county:
Barnstable County: 1,668
Berkshire County: 629
Bristol County: 8,788
Dukes County: 64
Essex County: 16,856
Franklin County: 391
Hampden County: 7,220
Hampshire County: 1,065
Middlesex County: 25,123
Nantucket County: 29
Norfolk County: 9,849
Plymouth County: 8,940
Suffolk County: 20,732
Worcester County: 12,972
Unknown location: 321
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