QUINCY — COVID-19 cases in the state’s schools fell sharply while the state and region totals rose slightly, two state agencies reported Thursday.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reported 9,803 COVID cases among the state’s K-12 students for the week ended Wednesday. That’s down from 14,878 cases in the previous weekly report. Cases among school staff also fell to 2,926 from 4,090 in the previous week.
The Department of Health on Thursday reported an overall spike in COVID-19 cases for both the state and the South Shore for the ninth straight week. Cases rose in 18 of the 23 South Coast communities.
The concentration of the virus in the area’s wastewater, a predictor of future cases, has fallen since May 17, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority reported. The southern region of the MWRA includes seven South Shore communities.
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In the 23 South Coast communities, the number of COVID-19 cases was 3,552 in the two weeks ended May 21, the Department of Health reported. That’s a 4.4% increase from the previous week’s 3,401 cases.
The state census shows 50,455 COVID-19 cases in the latest reporting period, up 1.1% from the previous week’s report.
Only laboratory-confirmed cases are included in the state health department’s report, not those found with home testing kits.
Three communities had rates higher than the statewide average of 51.7 cases per day per 100,000 people. That’s Hanover at a rate of 71, Hingham, and Randolph. The lowest rate is in Whitman at 29.9 per 100,000 people.
The five communities where COVID-19 case rates fell were Carver, Cohasset, Halifax, Milton and Pembroke.
In Thursday’s daily report, the state health department said there were 3,485 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total for the pandemic to 1,707,849.
As of Thursday, 814 people were in the state’s hospitals with COVID-19, down 6% from the 866 patients a week earlier. There were 79 patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units, up from 74 a week earlier, and 31 people on ventilators, five more than the week before.
The state reported 17 new deaths Thursday, bringing the total number of deaths in Massachusetts to 19,392. A total of 77 deaths were reported in the past week, five more than the week before.
The following is a list of the number of cases by community for the two weeks ended May 21, the average daily rate of cases per 100,000 people over the two-week period, and the total number of cases since the pandemic began. Statistics do not include home test results.
Abington: 95 cases; 37.2 rate; 4,069 in total
Braintree: 221 cases; 39.8 rate; 9,384 in total
Carver: 57 cases; 33.2 rate; 2,321 in total
Cohasset: 42 cases; 40.8 rate; 1,259 in total
Duxbury: 102 cases; 48.2 rate; 2,711 in total
Halifax: 39 cases; 36.4 rate; 1,547 in total
Hanover: 143 cases; 71 tariff; 4,363 in total
Hanson: 60 cases; 39.8 rate; 2,355 in total
Hingham: 194 cases; 57.7 rate; 4,630 in total
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Holbrook: 76 cases; 47.9 rate; 2,757 in total
Hull: 54 boxes; 39.4 rate, 1,467 total.
Kingston: 66 cases; 34.5 rate; 3,025 in total.
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Marshfield: 135 cases; 37.2 rate; 4,659 in total
Milton: 176 cases; 43.7 rate; 6,213 in total
Norwell: 75 cases; 50 rate; 2,238 in total
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Pembroke: 121 cases; 46 tariff; 3,850 in total
Plymouth: 311 cases; 35.4 rate; 13,816 in total
Quincy: 715 cases; 50.3 rate; 19,986 in total
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Randolph: 263 cases; 54.5 rate; 10,125 in total
Rockland: 101 cases; 39.9 rate; 4,482 in total
Situations: 104 cases; 41 rate; 3,109 in total
Weymouth: 337 cases; 42.8 rate; 12,519 in total
Whitman: 65 cases; 29.9 rate; 3,489 in total
