The COVID 19 virus is spreading like wildfire across East Boston with 2 out of every 10 residents tested for the virus last week turning out to be positive and a certain degree of panic has set in as children returned to school Tuesday.
Over at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, staff tested over 2,700 residents over a four day period and lines at testing sites across the city have reached epic proportions.
With both patrons and employees of indoor venues–including indoor dining, fitness, and entertainment establishments–required to show proof of vaccination beginning on January 15 the latest surge shows no sign of slowing.
Last week, 2,737 Eastie residents were tested for the virus last week and 21.5 percent were positive–this was a 109 percent increase from the 10.3 percent that tested positive as reported by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) on December 27. The weekly positive test rate has now jumped165 percent in Eastie since December 20.
The new cases in Eastie made up 9.5 percent of all new cases in Boston last week.
The citywide weekly positive test rate also neared 20 percent last week. According to the BPHC 36,788 residents were tested and 18.2 percent were COVID positive–this was a 94 percent increase from the 9.4 percent that reportedly tested positive for the week ending on December 27. The weekly positive test rate has increased 172 percent in Boston since December 20.
Five hundred eighty-eight additional Eastie residents contracted the virus between December 27 and January 3 and there are now 10,127 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 6 percent last week and went from 102,162 cases to 108,336 confirmed cases in a week. There were 7 additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total COVID deaths is now at 1,510.