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With Covid-19 rates going up again, Boston urges, but doesn't require, a return to masks

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The Boston Public Health Commission reported today that the citywide Covid-19 test positivity rate has reached 6.2%, up from just 2.2% in early March.

With a holiday weekend approaching, the commission says resident should strongly consider wearing masks again, get tested before going to social or indoor gatherings, stay home if feeling sick or testing positive, open windows at those gatherings and get a booster if over 50.

The positivity number exceeds one of the city's three threshold statistics for bringing back indoor masking and vaccination-proof requirements.

However, other statistics the city would use to do that remain below city thresholds: The total number of adults in the hospital with Covid-19 is at 70 a day, well below the city threshold of 200, and the number of filled ICU beds at the city's nine acute-care hospitals is at 88.9%, below the threshold of 95% for five days in a row, according to BPHC stats. In past surges, hospitalization numbers generally trailed overall Covid-19 numbers.

The commission says the highest infection rates are among people 20-30 and that seven parts of the city are currently above the 5% positivity threshold:

  • Charlestown 8.2%
  • Allston-Brighton 7.9%
  • Back Bay/Beacon Hill/Downtown/North End/West End 7.6%
  • South Boston 7.0%
  • South End 6.9%
  • Jamaica Plain 6.2%
  • West Roxbury 6.0%

Data from the testing of sewage flowing through the Deer Island treatment plant, which has become a marker of new cases seven to ten days out, has also been showing an increase of viral samples over the past couple of weeks.


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