Every week 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.

With about 1.7K active cases the City of Lynn is still a high-risk community. We haven’t been under that many active cases since early December, and the current levels are only slightly better than the city’s peak active cases of approx. 2.2K in both mid-May 2020 & mid-January 2021. However, there are signs of hope. Lynn used to set records for new 24-hour cases frequently, but that hasn’t been broken since January 5th (210) & the number of new cases hasn’t been above 100 since Jan. 21st. The frequency of deaths in Lynn have decreased, with only 21 deaths in January.

The average daily incidence rate per 100,000 for Lynn this week was 71.2. The last 4 weeks it was at 92.4, 127.2, 128.2, & 99.6. The positivity rate this week was 9.12%. The last 4 weeks this rate was 10.70%, 12.87%, 14.46%, & 14.63%. These are all positive trends for Lynn, which hasn’t seen consistently positive numbers like this since early Fall. 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 them enlarged.

The state of Massachusetts has also seen some positive trends overall. The average daily incidence rate per 100,000 for MA this week was 48.9, down from 59.4 last week. The positivity rate this week was 4.32%, down from 5.51% last week. Additionally, the seven-day average for deaths, hospitalizations, & new cases are also all down.

The United States currently has 26.7 million cases, up from 25.8 million last week. There are currently 105 million cases reported worldwide, up from 102 million last week. Daily records had been broken frequently for new cases & deaths within 24 hours in early January, proving right predictions that the holiday season would lead to higher numbers. However new case numbers are dropping, and deaths have remained fairly consistent, the past couple of weeks.

The death toll in the US now sits at approx. 456K, up from 433K last week. The last time that the 24-hour deaths record was set in the U.S. was on Jan. 12th with just over 4,406 dead. However, the record was broken yesterday with approx. 5,116 dying. This surge in deaths looks worse than it actually is, due to a backlog of data from Indiana adding 1,500 deaths to the nation’s total. This is known thanks to reporting by the Wall Street Journal. The 7-day average for deaths does sit at 3,232 so it is still recommended to follow all of the proper precautions in regards to this deadly virus.

In Massachusetts there are currently 153 communities in the red category & 108 in the yellow category. The last 3 weeks there were 192, 222, & 229 communities in the red. The last 3 weeks there were 80, 55, & 53 communities in the yellow.

In late fall Mass DPH began to use a different system for categorizing communities, based off their populations. Communities with populations less than 10,000 residents, between 10,000 & 50,000 residents, & more than 50,000 residents have had new metrics applied to them. Their results fall into 4 color categories; grey, green, yellow, & red. Positivity rates & average daily cases will continue to be determined by two-week rolling average. Officials say the new categories help to make the community-specific data more nuanced, and better account for increases in cases in smaller communities. They will also incorporate examples where cases at colleges, nursing homes, or jails may push an entire community into the red category. The new metrics are as follows:

Below are the statistics for Lynn & the state.