Last week, Charlestown COVID positive test rate neared the 5 percent 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.
Aside from a citywide mask mandate there has been no cutback on indoor occupancy, in-person learning or other measures to protect against the ragging Delta variant that has caused numerous breakthrough infections for vaccinated people as well as hospitalizing the unvaccinated. In schools across Boston hundreds of students under the age of 12 are unvaccinated and it seems the virus is taking a foothold once again.
While Cahrlestown’s positive test rate declined 37 percent between September 6 and September 13 the neighborhood experienced a huge spike last week
According to the weekly report released Monday by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), 692 Charlestown residents were tested and 4.2 percent were found to be positive–a 91 percent increase from the 2.2 percent that tested positive between September 6 and September 13.
Citywide, the weekly positive test rate increased nearly 14 percent last week. According to the BPHC 24,016 residents were tested and 4.1 percent were COVID positive–this was a 13.9 percent increase from the 3.6 percent reported by the BPHC on Sept. 13.
Twenty-four additional Charlestown residents tested positive for the virus since September 13 and the number of positive cases increased to 1,601 overall 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 2.2 percent since Sept. 13 and went from 77,549 cases to 79,393 confirmed cases in a week. There were six additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total COVID deaths is now at 1,418.