BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported another 1,679 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Friday, bringing the state's total number of confirmed cases to 536,506.
The state DPH also reported another 36 deaths among COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts, upping the state's confirmed coronavirus death toll to 15,409. There have also been 317 deaths reported among probable cases of the virus in the state.
The state's weekly average rate of positive COVID-19 tests has declined from around 3.4 percent at the start of February, to 2.1 percent on Friday Feb. 19th.
The estimated number of active cases of the virus in Massachusetts, signifying the number of patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis in the past 21 days, has dropped to 37,210.
There are currently 990 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across the Commonwealth, 258 of whom are receiving intensive care. 163 are intubated. Friday marks the first time since Thanksgiving 2020 that there has been less than 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Massachusetts.
According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center, the U.S. has confirmed nearly 28 million cases of COVID-19, and more than 495,000 Americans have died of the virus to date.
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Written by Brit Smith
(Photo: Getty Images)