Massachusetts reports 1,115 new coronavirus cases, breakthrough cases drop

State health officials on Tuesday reported 1,115 new coronavirus cases, as total COVID hospitalizations in the Bay State ticked up and the positive test rate stayed low.

The state Department of Public Health also reported 3,078 breakthrough cases from last week, which was down from 3,431 breakthrough infections during the previous week. The last time the weekly breakthrough count was this low was in late August.

Virus cases had been climbing for months amid the more highly contagious delta variant, but infection tallies have been significantly lower in recent weeks.

After the new 1,115 daily virus cases, the seven-day average of daily cases is now 880. Several weeks ago, the daily average was 1,896 infections.

The positive test average has been coming down. The percent positivity is now 1.61%, a drop from 2.98% last month. The daily positive test rate for Tuesday’s report was 1.35%.

The state reported 23 new COVID deaths, bringing the state’s total recorded death toll to 18,956. The seven-day average of deaths is now 10.4. The record-low daily death average was 1.3 in mid-July.

There are now 546 COVID patients in the state, a daily uptick of 19 patients.

The state reported that 137 patients are in intensive care units, and 76 patients are currently intubated.

Of the 546 total hospitalizations, 195 patients are fully vaccinated — or about 36%. Those who are unvaccinated are at a much higher risk for a severe case.

In the weekly breakthrough report, the state reported a weekly increase of 121 fully vaxxed patients. That’s down from the previous weekly increase of 138 fully vaxxed patients. There have been 1,687 hospitalizations among fully vaccinated people in Massachusetts, which represents 0.04% of those who are fully vaxxed.

There was a one-week increase of 35 breakthrough deaths. That’s up from the previous weekly increase of 26 deaths. The state has reported 406 breakthrough deaths, or 0.009% of those who are fully vaxxed.

More than 4.7 million people in Massachusetts are fully vaccinated, and more than 5.2 million people have gotten at least one shot. The state reported that 351,109 people have gotten a booster dose.