As the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) continues to recommend residents receive a second COVID booster vaccine, Back Bay and the surrounding area’s weekly COVID positive test rate increased once again with Boston’s test rate now surpassing 5 percent for the first time in weeks.
Last week, 1,104 Back Bay, Beacon Hill, North End, West End and Downtown residents were tested for the virus last week and 7.6 percent were positive–this was a 29 percent increase from the 5.9 percent that tested positive as reported by the BPHC on April 4.
Eighty-four additional residents contracted the virus between April 4 and April 11 and there are now 9,612 confirmed cases in the neighborhood since the start of the pandemic.
Boston’s citywide weekly positive test rate also increased last week and is now above the 5 percent threshold. According to the BPHC 14,451 residents were tested citywide last week and 5.4 percent were COVID positive–this was a 17 percent increase from the 4.6 percent that reportedly tested positive for the week ending on April 4.
The statistics released by the BPHC as part of its weekly COVID19 report breaks down the number of cases and infection rates in each neighborhood. It also breaks down the number of cases by age, gender and race.
Citywide positive cases of coronavirus increased 0.93 percent last week and went from 169,673 to 171,251 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
There were four additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total number of COVID deaths is now at 1,448.