Last week both the weekly and cumulative COVID-19 positive test rate in Jamaica Plain increased according to the latest data released by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) last Friday.
According to the data 2,402 Jamaica Plain residents were tested last week and 2.4 percent were found to be COVID positive– a 33 percent increase from the 1.8 percent reported by the BPHC on March 19.
Of the 35,155 Jamaica Plain residents tested for COVID since the pandemic began, 7.9 percent overall were found to be positive–this was an increase of 2.6 percent from the 7.7 percent reported on March 19.
Positive test rates continue to rise citywide. According to the BPHC 28,007 residents were tested and 5.2 percent were COVID positive–this was a 23.8 percent increase from the 4.2 percent positive test rate reported by the BPHC two weeks ago. This was the first time in weeks the city went above its 5 percent threshold used to plan Boston’s phased reopening strategies.
On Monday the Baker-Polito Administration announced that residents 55 and over and residents with one certain medical condition will be eligible for the COVID vaccine beginning on April 5.
In addition, the Administration announced that Massachusetts will adopt the CDC’s updated list of medical conditions. This week, the CDC added more medical conditions that are linked to an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Massachusetts will adopt this guidance and make individuals eligible starting April 5th if they have one of these medical conditions. As a result of adopting the CDC’s list, more residents will be eligible starting April 5th.
The full list of conditions can be found at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html and the full timeline of the state’s vaccine rollout is available at mass.gov/COVIDVaccinePhases.
According to the BPHC data, Jamaica Plain’s infection rate increased 4 percent since March 19.
Jamaica Plain went from 654 cases per 10,000 residents to 680.5 cases per 10,000 residents.
An additional 107 Jamaica Plain residents became infected with COVID-19 since March 19 and the number of total cases here went from 2,641 cases to 2,748 cases 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 increased 3.5 percent percent last week and went from 63,748 cases to 65,992 confirmed cases in a week. Fourteen additional Boston residents died from the virus last week and there are now 1,355 total deaths in the city from COVID.