State health officials on Saturday reported 795 new coronavirus cases and eight new deaths as hospitalizations continue a downward trend amid the vaccine rollout.
Virus cases and deaths have been significantly lower in the last couple of weeks. The state’s count of estimated active cases is now 19,125 cases, down from the estimated active case tally of 36,775 cases a couple of weeks ago.
Statewide hospitalizations have also been dropping amid the state’s vaccine rollout. Total hospitalizations on Saturday declined by 18 patients, bringing the total to 441 patients. There are 128 patients in the intensive care unit and 66 are intubated.
Across the state, 85.6% of hospital beds are currently occupied and 75% of ICU beds are taken. The average number of patients hospitalized for the coronavirus is 60.
Saturday’s eight new virus deaths bring the state’s total confirmed death toll to 17,676. Daily deaths have declined significantly from upwards of 80 per day in January and nearly 200 in April 2020 when the pandemic first hit.
The 795 new cases reported Saturday bring the state’s total case count up to 652,535. The seven-day average of confirmed cases is 617. The lowest that rate has ever been since the start of the pandemic was 156 in July.
The seven-day average of the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 has declined from 2,347 patients at the start of January to an average of 494 patients now.
The state’s seven-day average weighted positive test rate is 1.32%, down from 1.65% a week ago.
As of Saturday, more than 7.9 million vaccine doses have been shipped to the state, and more than 6.6 million have been given out, according to the daily vaccine report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
About 42% of all Massachusetts residents are now fully vaccinated against coronavirus and 55% have received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
