Two weeks ago, East Boston went over the 5 percent COVID positive test rate threshold the CDC and city used during the height of the pandemic last year to begin reconsidering the phased reopening of certain businesses, public spaces and events but that number dropped significantly last week.
Last week, 1,690 Eastie residents were tested for the virus last week and 3.1 percent were positive–this was a 42.5 percent increase from the 5.4 percent reported by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) on September 20.
Citywide, the weekly positive test rate also decreased and dropped 27 percent last week. According to the BPHC 24,203 residents were tested and 3 percent were COVID positive–this was a 27 percent decrease from the 4.1 percent reported by the BPHC on Sept. 20.
Eastie’s COVID infection rate increased 0.67 percent and the rate went from 1,755.9 cases per 10,000 residents to 1,767.6 cases per 10,000 residents.
Fifty-five additional residents contracted the virus between Sept. 20 and Sept. 27 and there are now 8,295 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 percent since Sept. 20 and went from 79,268 cases to 80,106 confirmed cases in a week. There were two additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total COVID deaths is now at 1,420.