READ LAST WEEK’S SUMMARY BY CLICKING HERE

Every Thursday the MA Dept. of Public Health releases numbers for how COVID-19 has impacted the state, and we try to highlight some of these numbers so the community is informed about how COVID is impacting Lynn & the state. Their numbers factor in the past week as well as the week before, giving 2 weeks worth of data.

The City of Lynn officially entered the yellow COVID-19 risk category for the first time on March 12th, but returned to the red category on March 25th. Since returning to the red Lynn’s numbers have gone back up very quickly, which is bad news for Lynn as we have been hit hard throughout the pandemic. On February 8th Lynn passed 15,000 total cases and 2 weeks ago we passed 17,000. We currently stand at 17,377, an increase of 128 from last week.

After over a month of troubling increases, the City of Lynn has started to see decreases in the amount of people with COVID-19. The average daily incidence rate per 100,000 for Lynn this week was 23.9 while it was at 29.3, 35.1, 36.8, & 34.9 the last 4 weeks. The positivity rate this week was 4.32% while it was 4.68%, 5.53%, 5.77%, & 5.36% the last 4 weeks. Lynn currently has 262 active cases while the last four weeks it was 297, 405, 402, & 375. New 24-hour cases have been low with the occasional spike for months now, the largest single-day increase since the start of March was 75 on April 6th. Deaths have slowed in Lynn, with only 19 people that have died due to COVID-19 since March 1st. You can view these trends for Lynn yourself on the City of Lynn’s COVID-19 dashboard by clicking here. You can click the icon in the top-right corner of each section to see it enlarged.

There has been concern a hesitancy towards the vaccine by some, the return of youth sports, re-opening schools to more in-person learning, & loosening restrictions could cause a spike in cases. With those factors in mind, and the continuing high numbers this spring, it is still recommended to take COVID-19 precautions seriously until you’ve been fully vaccinated. Because the vaccines do not entirely prevent the spread of COVID-19 it is advised to mask up and distance, even after the 2 week window for second doses to be at maximum effectiveness, to continue to mitigate the spread of the virus to those that haven’t or can’t get the vaccine yet. The United States is about to pass 100million people fully vaccinated (30.4% of the population), with almost half the population vaccinated with at least 1 dose. Please read about the Lynn Tech vaccination site by clicking here.

The state of Massachusetts as a whole has seen some negative trends finally stop, marking two weeks of positive trends in a row. The average daily incidence rate per 100,000 for MA this week was 20.0 while for the past 4 weeks it was 24.7, 27.4, 28.1, & 25.6. The positivity rate this week was 2.01% but the 4 weeks prior it had been 2.30%, 2.48%, 2.54%, & 2.36%. Back in early February the total number of communities in the red category in MA had rapidly declined, reaching a low of 14, but quickly rose back up close to 100. There has been a slow decline over the past several months, and currently MA has 26 communities in the red. The number of communities in the yellow has fluctuated due to communities changing categories from red to yellow and yellow to green, but has remained below 200 for months.

The United States currently has 32.3million cases, with cases averaging anywhere from 300-400K per week the last couple of months. There are currently 141million cases reported worldwide, up from 145million last week. Internationally cases have remained fairly constant, with at least 3million a week for months. However, there is concern as cases in India have surged in a dangerous second COVID-19 wave that began in late March. India has seen record-breaking increases in cases after reopening and loosening restrictions multiple days in a row, with 386,555  new cases & 3,498 deaths reported just yesterday. The medical infrastructure in that country has been devastated, with hospitals in short supply of everything from beds to oxygen.

Increases in new cases in the U.S. have dropped significantly, but are still fluctuating. At it’s height back in early January 300K+ new cases were reported with a 7-day average of 259,616. Yesterday 58,528 new cases were reported, with a 7-day average of 51,465. The death toll in the US now sits at approx. 575K, while it was at 570K, 565K, 560K, & 533K the previous 4 weeks. Last week the world passed 3million dead because of COVID-19. The good news in the U.S. is that deaths have been trending downwards fast since early February. Yesterday only 879 were declared dead due to COVID-19, & the 7-day average for deaths sits at 697.

In Massachusetts there are currently 26 communities in the red category & 173 in the yellow category. The last 4 weeks there were 48, 59, 77, & 55 communities in the red. The last 4 weeks there were 173, 170, 154, & 172 communities in the yellow.

The MA Department of Public Health continues to conduct surveillance for COVID-19 variants of concern including B.1.1.7 (first identified in the UK), B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa) and P.1 (first identified in Brazil).

Surveillance, consisting of genetic sequencing on portions of COVID-19 positive specimens, has been ongoing in a collaboration between the Massachusetts State Public health Laboratory with clinical diagnostic laboratories and academic partners, including the CDC. Surveillance data so far has identified B.1.1.7 and the B.1.351 cases without any recent travel; it is critical to do everything possible to keep variants of concern from becoming widespread.

The public health risk reduction measures remain the same. Individuals must continue to wear masks or face coverings while out in public, maintain 6-foot social distancing, stay home when you are sick, and get tested if you have symptoms or are identified as a close contact

Below are the statistics for Lynn & the state.