The COVID-19 positive test rate in Charlestown decreased for a second week in a row according to the latest data released by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC).
Of the 9,554 Charlestown residents tested for the virus 4 percent were found to be positive by last Friday. This was a decrease of 39 percent from the 6.6 percent that tested positive two Fridays ago. The citywide positive test rate average was 5 percent a decrease of 50 percent from the 10.2 percent that tested positive two weeks ago.
The data shows that overall since the pandemic began 4.4 percent of Charlestown residents tested were found to be COVID positive.
At his daily press briefing Tuesday, Mayor Martin Walsh said that in the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, Boston’s numbers went in the right direction.
“But, we expect to see an increase when the impact of Thanksgiving activity makes it into the testing data,” said Walsh.
He said the City will be monitoring that data closely as it comes in.
“In the meantime, we all have to do everything we can to prevent the virus from spreading, by taking our collective and individual precautions as seriously as ever,” said Walsh.
The infection rate in Charlestown increased 8.9 percent in one week according to the latest city statistics.
The BPHC data released last Friday showed Charlestown had an infection rate of 214.2 cases per 10,000 residents, up from 196.7 cases per 10,000 residents.
Thirty-four additional residents became infected with the virus last week bringing the total number of cases to 416 in the neighborhood.
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 increased10 percent last week and went from 25,105 cases to 27,635 confirmed cases. Twenty more Boston residents died from the virus and there are now 919 total deaths in the city from COVID.