Eastie’s Weekly COVID Positive Test Rate Spikes

For two straight weeks at the end of June and the beginning of July, no East Boston residents tested positive for COVID. However, two weeks ago the local weekly COVID positive test rate increased to 0.07. 

Last week, Eastie’s weekly positive test rate increased 2,000 percent and spiked to 1.5 percent according to the latest data released by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC). 

This was the first time the weekly positive test rate increased to over one percent in nearly two months. 

With new variants of the virus penetrating the US, the recent spike may be due to the Delta COVID variant that is sweeping across the US and infecting unvaccinated people with a vengeance. 

Last week, 839 Eastie residents were tested for the virus and 1.5 percent were positive–a 2,000 percent increase from the 0.07 percent reported by the BPHC two weeks ago. 

Of the 44,097 Eastie residents tested for COVID since the pandemic began, 17.7 percent overall were found to be positive for the virus. This was a decrease of one percent from the 17.9 percent reported by the BPHC two weeks ago. 

Citywide, the weekly positive test rate increased. According to the BPHC 11,704 residents were tested and 1.5 percent were COVID positive–this was a 275 percent increase from the 0.4 percent reported by the BPHC two weeks ago.

Eastie’s COVID infection rate increased only 0.07 percent and the rate is currently 1,657.4 cases per 10,000 residents. 

Nineteen additional residents contracted the virus since July 9 and there are now 7,778 confirmed cases in the neighborhood since the start of the pandemic. 

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 0.56 percent since July 9 and went from 70,998 cases to 71,399 confirmed cases in a week. Two additional Boston residents died from the virus in the past two weeks and there are now 1,395 total deaths in the city from COVID.

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