Those testing positive for COVID-19 in East Boston hit an all-time high two weeks ago with nearly one out of every five residents testing positive for the virus.
However, it seems that efforts by public health officials, the city and other stakeholders combined with an increase in testing has brought the numbers down in the neighborhood.
According to the latest data released by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) last Friday the positive test rate in the neighborhood has dropped 35 percent last week.
The BPHC reported that of the 24,934 Eastie residents tested for COVID last week 12.3 percent were found to be positive for the virus, a 35 percent decrease from the 19 percent reported two Fridays ago. Eastie has fallen behind Hyde Park, a neighborhood that now has the highest positive test rate in Boston.
Overall since the pandemic began 14 percent of Eastie residents here have been found to be positive. The citywide positive test rate also dropped by 50 percent and went from 10.2 percent of Boston residents testing positive for the virus to 5 percent last week.
Eastie’s infection rate rose by 5.7 percent according to the data released by the BPHC last Friday. Eastie’s COVID infection rate went from 716.8 cases per 10,000 residents to 757.7 cases per 10,000 residents. The citywide average is 391.9 cases per 10,000 residents and Eastie still has one of the highest infection rates in all of Boston.
An additional 192 Eastie residents contracted the virus with 3,556 confirmed cases, up from the 3,364 reported two weeks ago.
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 8.4 percent last week and went from 25,105 to 27,228 cases to.
Twenty more Boston residents died from the virus and there are now 919 total deaths in the city from COVID.