Fun with COVID-19 reporting in MA (and elsewhere)

Of the three thresholds for concern that had reached previously, all got better though 2 are still worse than we saw 23-Dec-2022 (which was when these three reached the threshold) Test Positivity rate: Threshold: 5.0% Current:   9.9% (down from 11.7% last week and finally below  23-Dec-2022's 10.3% ) Number of neighborhoods with positivity rate >= 8.0% Threshold: 4 or more (of 16 total) Current:   12 (down from 14 last week and the 2 prior weeks'  15 but still up from 23-Dec-2022's 11) Confirmed Daily Adult COVID-19 Hospitalizations (7-day moving average) Threshold: 200.0 Current:     248.9 (down from 283 last week but still up from 23-Dec-2022's  233.9) And the occupied adult non-surge ICU beds is still below the threshold but just barely...and is not really getting better but instead just essentially hovering well above the target and, for 3 of the last 5 weeks, just inches from reaching the threshold of concern: Threshold: 95.0% Current:   ...

Of the three thresholds for concern that had reached previously, all got slightly better though 2 are still more than twice the threshold and the third is still higher than it had been all of December.   Test Positivity rate: Threshold: 5.0% Current:   11.7% (down from  13.2% which was down from  14.6% the week before ... though still up from 23-Dec-2022's 10.3% ) Number of neighborhoods with positivity rate >= 8.0% Threshold: 4 or more (of 16 total) Current:   14 (down from the last 2 weeks'  15 but same as the 30-Dec-2022 and up from 23-Dec-2022's 11) Confirmed Daily Adult COVID-19 Hospitalizations (7-day moving average) Threshold: 200.0 Current:     283 (down from  303.3 but roughly the same as the week prior's  287.7 and still up from all Dec's weeks: 30-Dec-2022 -  271.9 and 23-Dec-2022 -  233.9 and below 200 before that) And the occupied adult non-surge ICU beds is still below the threshold but just barely...and is not...

Of the three thresholds for concern that had reached previously, 1 got slightly better though not enough to get back down to where we were 2 weeks ago, 1 stayed the same (which is just about as bad as that threshold can get) and 1 got progressively worse: Test Positivity rate: Threshold: 5.0% Current:    13.2% (down from  14.6% but still up from  13.0% the prior week and 10.3% the week before that) Number of neighborhoods with positivity rate >= 8.0% Threshold: 4 or more (of 16 total) Current:    15 (same as last week, which was up from  14 the prior week and 11 the week before that) Confirmed Daily Adult COVID-19 Hospitalizations (7-day moving average) Threshold: 200.0 Current:      303.3 (up from  287.7 last week,  271.9 the prior week week and  233.9 the week week before that) Thankfully, while the occupied adult non-surge ICU beds got worse, it is still down from 2 weeks ago and remains below the threshold, if just...

Using the cumulative cases by neighborhood from 2020 and 2021 (nope, this doesn't get old, the selection option for cumulative rates on the site reads "COVID-19 Cases and Rates by Neighborhood: Cumulative for 2020 and 2021 even in 2023) we can see that confirmed cases in Boston have come back up and by themselves would be concerning, despite being deceptive because most people are no longer testing in hospital settings, if at all.  The city-wide rate for the last week is 28 cases per 100k, which is roughly twice the threshold to reach the CDC's highest transmission rating.  But that doesn't give us the full picture as we've seen from wastewater tracking and the various threshold parameters Boston has in place.  In fact, the situation in Boston is now worse than any time other than during the Omicron wave in late December 2021/early January 2022. Three thresholds for concern that had reached previously got progressively worse worse: Test Positivity rate: Threshold: ...

Confirmed cases in Boston dipped last week, but that doesn't give us the full picture as we've seen from wastewater tracking and the various threshold parameters Boston has in place, which just points to people not testing at medical facilities as much and therefore not all cases being tracked. Three thresholds for concern that had reached previously got worse: Test Positivity rate: Threshold: 5.0% Current:    13.0% (up from 10.3% last week) Number of neighborhoods with positivity rate >= 8.0% Threshold: 4 or more (of 16 total) Current:    14 (up from 11 last week) Confirmed Daily Adult COVID-19 Hospitalizations (7-day moving average) Threshold: 200.0 Current:     271.9 (up from  233.9 last week) Thankfully, the occupied adult non-surge ICU beds got better and remains below the threshold, if just barely: Threshold: 95.0% Current:     89.6% (down from  93.7% last week) Also the 7-day average emergency department visits per day hasn't i...