Worcester County's COVID-19 cases fall 30%; Mass. cases plummet 26.4%
New cases of the coronavirus continued to decline sharply in both Worcester and Norfolk counties last week, as well as statewide, according to a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
Worcester County reported 638 new cases of COVID-19 last week, down 30% from the 911 reported the previous week. Deaths totaled 29 in the county last week, down from 40 the week before.
Throughout the pandemic, Worcester County has reported 189,588 cases and 3,013 deaths.
Norfolk County reported 472 new cases last week, down 27.7% from the 653 reported the week before. Last week there were 12 deaths in the county that were linked to the coronavirus, down from 27 the week before.
Throughout the pandemic, Norfolk County has reported 129,030 cases and 2,228 deaths.
The state reported 6,173 new cases of COVID-19 last week, according to the Johns Hopkins data. That's down 26.4% from the 8,388 new cases reported last week.
There were 207 coronavirus-related deaths in Massachusetts for the week ending Sunday. That's down from 261 deaths reported the previous week.
Massachusetts is 25th nationally in terms of where the coronavirus was spreading fastest on a per-person basis.
Cases fell in 12 Massachusetts counties, with the sharpest declines occurring in Suffolk, Worcester and Hampden counties.
Nationally, the number of new coronavirus cases reported last week was 323,600, down 30.4% from the week before. With 2.1% of the country's population, Massachusetts had 1.9% of the country's cases last week.
Five states reported more new cases last week than they did the week before.
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Massachusetts is third nationally in its share of people receiving at least one vaccination shot, with 96.6% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 76.5%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Sunday, Massachusetts reported administering another 49,699 vaccine doses, including 26,205 first doses. During the previous week, the state administered 70,634 vaccine doses.
In all, Massachusetts reported it has administered more than 14.3 million total doses.
The worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis occurred in Hampshire County, with 160 cases per 100,000 per week; Berkshire County (139); and Middlesex County (108). The CDC says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases last week were Middlesex County (1,748); Suffolk County (867); and Worcester County (638).
A total of 1,675,767 people in Massachusetts have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 23,577 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. Nationally, 79,271,466 people have tested positive and 958,621 people have died.
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Massachusetts' COVID-19 hospital admissions falling
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday.
Likely COVID-19 patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 813
The week before that: 905
Four weeks ago: 1,893
Likely COVID-19 patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 58,950
The week before that: 66,535
Four weeks ago: 131,215
In only one state did hospitals report more COVID-19 patients last week than a week earlier, while hospitals in three states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in seven states admitted more COVID-19 patients last week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Worcester County MA reported 638 new cases of COVID-19 last week
