In today’s Daily Debrief, President Biden orders a full review of the origins of COVID-19 and any possible ties to a lab in China. Casinos will be allowed to fully reopen this Saturday. An eighth noose is found inside a New England Amazon facility. Plus, remembering beloved children’s author Eric Carle, and flights return to the Worcester Airport.
Massachusetts' town-by-town coronavirus data shows one community -- Tisbury -- remaining in the red zone Thursday, down from two last week. See this week's "red town" map below.
Meanwhile, state health officials reported another 215 confirmed COVID cases and nine more deaths. The new numbers pushed the state's confirmed case total to 660,513 and the death toll to 17,491 since the start of the pandemic.
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Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, have fallen far enough that the state's COVID-related business restrictions will end on Saturday.
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On Wednesday, Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests ticked down to 0.8%.
The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases fell to 253. Of those currently hospitalized, 79 are listed as being in intensive care units and 42 are intubated.
Health officials' projection of active COVID-19 cases decreased to 7,843 on Thursday from 8,416 on Wednesday.
Nearly 7.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Massachusetts as of Thursday, including over 4.1 million first doses and more than 3.3 million second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 245,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
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Health officials reported that 3,558,197 Bay State residents have been fully vaccinated as of Thursday, more than half of its 7,029,917 residents.
Gov. Charlie Baker is aiming to reach 4.1 million fully vaccinated by the beginning of June, a goal he's said remains within reach.
