East Boston still has the highest COVID-19 infection rate in the City of Boston according to the latest data released by the Boston Public Health Commission on Friday, but things seem to be settling down a bit.
While more robust testing for the virus in the neighborhood may be the cause of an increase in the neighborhood’s infection rate week over week, Eastie still remains a virus hotspot.
However, the previous increase reported a week ago showed a five percent increase in the number of residents infected while the latest data shows only a 2.7 percent increase.
On Friday the BPHC released its weekly COVID-19 stats by neighborhood that tracks infection rates and COVID testing results in Boston neighborhoods.
In one week Eastie’s COVID-19 infection rate rose only 2.7 percent from 310.5 cases per 10,000 residents to an infection rate of 318.6 cases per 10,000 residents as of Friday.
As of Friday there were 1,485 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Eastie, up from the 1,457 cases reported by the BPHC the previous week.
Since testing was ramped up in Eastie 5,024 residents have been tested for COVID-19 and the data shows that 30.9 percent percent of those tested were COVID positive, down from 32.5 percent reported last week. However, Eastie still leads the city in the percentage of those testing positive for COVID-19 followed by parts of Mattapan Dorchester and Hyde Park.
The statistics released by the BPHC as part of its weekly COVID-19 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.
Eastie leads Hyde Park as the neighborhood with the highest infection rate in the city. Hyde Park’s infection rate rose only 1.5 percent in a week and was 313.5 cases per 10,000 residents, up from 308.6 cases per 10,000 residents. .
Citywide there are 13,026 positive cases of coronavirus, up 1.8 percent from the 12,784 cases reported last week. So far 7,817 of these Boston residents have fully recovered.
Deaths from COVID-19 rose 3.7 percent from 642 deaths to the 666 deaths reported last week.