The recent spike of COVID-19 infections throughout Boston is troubling and Roslindale is not immune to the newest wave of infections sweeping the city.
Those testing positive for the virus in Jamaica Plain increased according to data released by the Last week the BPHC reported that of the 12,005 Roslindale residents tested for COVID, 5.9 percent were found to be positive. The citywide average is 5.7 percent of those tested and that number forced Boston Public School to suspend all in-person learning until further notice.
Since testing began in the neighborhood 8.2 percent of Roslindale residents have been found to be COVID positive.
According to the BPHC data, Roslindale’s infection rate also increased.
Roslindale went from 273 cases per 10,000 residents to 281.9 cases per 10,000 residents–or a 3.2 percent increase. Roslindale is now several points higher than the citywide infection rate average which is now at 271.5 cases per 10,000 residents.
Twenty more Roslindale residents became infected with COVID-19 in the past week and the number of total cases here went from 932 cases two weeks ago to 952 cases last week.
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 rose by 7 percent last week from 17,937 cases to 19,029 confirmed cases. So far 16,212 Boston residents have fully recovered from the virus and 8 additional Boston residents died last week–bringing the total number of fatalities in the city remains to 771.
At his daily press briefing last week Mayor Martin Walsh said parts of Dorchester, Hyde Park and Mattapan are emerging as new COVID hotspots.
“Among neighborhoods, the 02121 and 02125 zip codes of Dorchester, as well as Hyde Park and Mattapan, were the neighborhoods with the highest positive rates,” said Walsh. “East Boston and the 02122 and 02124 zip codes of Dorchester saw their rates go down, but remain above the citywide average. Roxbury remains above the citywide average as well.”
The Mayor said that, overall, the numbers we are seeing in positive tests and hospital admissions are numbers the city has not seen since June, when Boston was coming down from the peak of COVID-19 cases.
“In response, we are strengthening our focus on prevention, community outreach, and support while also developing enforcement strategies for COVID guidelines,” he said.