Fun with MA COVID-19 Reporting 27-Mar-2021 Edition

In case you were thinking that the 1,626 average daily cases from the week of Mar 14 was an aberration and that we were actually still seeing lower case counts, Monday through Wednesday of this past week each had over 2,000 cases, single-day count that we had seen reached only once before going back through Feb 12... and this past week's numbers are still increasing.  And even counting Thursday's count which is absolutely not where it will end up, the first 5 days currently have an average of 1,804 cases per day, bringing us back to where we were in early February.  I fully expect the past week to end up being a 3rd straight week of increased cases.  We likely won't reach the 2,366 average from the week of Jan 31, but I predict we'll be over the 1,793 average from the week of Feb 7.

Deaths are also looking likely to be on the rise again.  After slowing the decrease in daily deaths for weeks, going from 47.6 to 43.7 to 38.9 to 32.7 the weeks of Feb 14 through Mar 7, we decreased only by 0.7 the week of Mar 14 to 32... and this past week for stabilized numbers is averaging 33.

Hospital use is also on the rise, with the data so far for this past week showing a definite increase instead of the slowed decrease we had been seeing the last few weeks.

Why would this be happening when the vaccine rollout is going so well and we're going to open up registration to the general public in just a few weeks?  Perhaps it's because the vaccine rollout is actually not going so well seeing as we're several months in and have reached only 16.9% fully vaccinated in MA with, based on reviewing that percentage each day this passed week, a daily increase of just 0.4%.  Meanwhile, we're reopening and forcing school districts back to in-person learning when it's still very clearly not safe.  The messaging by our Governor runs completely contrary to the facts on the ground and that messaging will cause more people to engage in the more risky behaviors he is promoting, which will cause the rise in cases, hospital use, and deaths.  The actions of our Governor are directly linked to the harm COVID-19 is causing, from restaurant closures caused by our inability to drive down cases to the more obvious death-count to the increased disparities in education opportunities and economic impacts on our communities.

Stay safe. Stay sane. Stay informed. Stay knowing that it's much more dangerous out there now than it was when we re-opened to Phase 1 last year.

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