Health officials are ringing the alarm and trying to get a handle on the Delta variant of the virus that has caused breakthrough infections among vaccinated residents and is decimating the unvaccinated population across the city, state and country. In Boston the positive test rate has hovered near 4 percent since July 30.
After experiencing a 18.5 percent drop in the weekly COVID positive test rate between July 30 and August 6, the weekly positive test rate has jumped once again in East Boston.
Last week, 1,447 Eastie residents were tested for the virus last week and 3.5 percent were positive–this was a 59 percent increase from the 2.2 percent reported by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) two weeks ago.
Of the 46,225 Eastie residents tested for COVID since the pandemic began, 17.1 percent overall were found to be positive for the virus. This was a decrease of 0.58 percent from the 17.2 percent reported by the BPHC two weeks ago.
Citywide, the weekly positive test rate increased another 5 percent last week. According to the BPHC 18,232 residents were tested and 3.9 percent were COVID positive–this was a 5 percent increase from the 3.7 percent reported by the BPHC two weeks ago.
With a new school year right around the corner, the CDC is still studying the effects of the Delta variant on the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, especially children.
Dr. Mark Kline, the physician in chief of Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, which has some of the highest COVID infections among children, told ABC’s Good Morning America, “We are hospitalizing record numbers of children. Half of the children in our hospital today are under two years of age. Most of the others are between five and ten years of age—too young to be vaccinated just yet.”
Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, has warned that children will soon become the “main vectors of virus spread” because they are the “remaining population ineligible for the vaccine.”
This, many health experts warn, could cause the Delta variant to smolder among children populations across the country and lead to new mutations of the virus as it jumps from children to unvaccinated adults. This may set the stage for yet another mutation of COVID 19 that can ultimately become vaccine resistant.
Eastie’s COVID infection rate increased only 0.68 percent and the rate went from 1,673.8 cases per 10,000 residents to 1685.1 cases per 10,000 residents.
Fifty-three additional residents contracted the virus between August 6 and August 11 and there are now 7,908 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 1.13 percent since August 6 and went from 73,228 cases to 74,052 confirmed cases in a week. There was one additional death in Boston from the virus in the past two weeks and the total COVID deaths is now at 1,401.