The highly contagious delta variant is quickly spreading across the country, making up more than half of new COVID-19 cases.
Massachusetts health officials reported another 269 confirmed coronavirus cases -- the most in a single day since late May -- and three new deaths on Friday.
The report pushed the state's confirmed COVID-19 caseload to 665,801 since the start of the pandemic, and its death toll to 17,655. The last time Massachusetts reported more than 269 new cases in one day was on May 26, when 382 cases were reported.
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The state's COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, are far lower than they were several months ago, but some have been sliding up in the last few weeks. A total of 269 cases were reported over the entire July 4 weekend -- the same number that was reported in one day Friday.
Gov. Charlie Baker said he thinks the recent rise in cases could be down to gatherings held over the Fourth of July weekend.
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Once above 30%, Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests rose to 0.87% on Friday. One week ago, it had risen to 0.5% after a month under that mark.
The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases ticked down to 107; the figure was once nearly 4,000. Of those currently hospitalized, 34 are listed as being in intensive care units and 18 are intubated.
More Mass. COVID News
Under 8.8 million vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts as of Thursday. That includes nearly 4.5 million first shots and over 4 million second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 282,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
Health officials on Thursday reported that a total of 4,291,441 Bay State residents have been fully vaccinated.
