Massachusetts health officials announced another 29 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the statewide death count to 8,360.
Authorities also confirmed another 356 cases of the virus, bringing the total number of cases statewide to at least 109,096. That is based on 15,556 new molecular tests reported Wednesday, according to the Department of Public Health.
The number of new cases is an increase since yesterday, but health officials noted that due to a technical report error by a hospital group, there was a delay in the results of that provider’s laboratory tests being reported to the DPH.
“These recently reported test results have been included in today’s dashboard report and are reflected in today’s case totals,” the officials noted. “However, these positive test results have been retrospectively assigned to the appropriate test date.”
There are currently 390 people hospitalized with the virus.
The latest data comes as cases in some of the hardest hit states, such as Florida, California, Texas and Arizona, have begun to stabilize and even decline, according to the New York Times. But some of the places, particularly Arizona, Texas, and South Carolina, have seen the largest increase in recently reported deaths.
The seven-day average of new cases in the United States as of Tuesday is 65,218, the Times reports. There are currently more than 4.3 million cases of the virus in the US and approximately 150,340 deaths.
The infection rate in Massachusetts has increased slightly in recent weeks, which officials believe is the result of several “small groups” of cases linked to recent meetings, Governor Charlie Baker said Monday. The positive testing rate has increased from about 1.7% to about 2%, Baker said.
Baystate Health on Monday reported an outbreak of new infections at Baystate Medical Center affecting 23 employees and 13 patients. Baystate Health President and CEO Dr. Mark Keroack said the outbreak dates back to a single employee, who returned to work after visiting a state identified as a new virus access point.
There was also an outbreak in the city of Chatham on Cape Cod after at least 10 people who attended a home party on July 12 tested positive for coronavirus. Cape officials announced Sunday that they will offer pop quizzes to anyone who has attended the party, or is a close contact of someone who was there.
On Tuesday, the Holyoke Soldiers House, which was the site of one of the deadliest coronavirus outbreaks since the pandemic began, said it will suspend visits after a resident of the facility who recovered from COVID-19 again tested positive for the virus.
Coronavirus en masse: view cases, maps, charts and resources
These are the cases listed by county:
Barnstable County: 1,731
Berkshire County: 648
Bristol County: 8,987
Dukes County: 65
Essex County: 17,119
Franklin County: 397
Hampden County: 7,353
Hampshire County: 1,102
Middlesex County: 25,535
Nantucket County: 33
Norfolk County: 10,103
Plymouth County: 9,043
Suffolk County: 21,030
Worcester County: 13,204
Unknown location: 334
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