Above: Southborough’s cases are trending up again. (Though not as much as my graph earlier this week showed due to a spreadsheet error.)*
Mass Public Health re-designated Southborough red/high risk last night.
The state also released this week’s data on Southborough’s vaccinations. So, it’s time for an update.
State Covid Testing Report
Last night, the state reported of data covering results from tests taken during the 14 day period ending Saturday, March 27th. The risk status is based on 26 positive results that came in by Wednesday. That’s up from 24 in the prior week’s report.
The % of tests confirmed positive for that period was higher this week (1.03%) You can see details of the positivity rate trend in my graph right.
The Town’s Average Daily Incidence Rate per 100,000 was 19.2 (also higher).
The state designated Framingham red but kept all of our other immediate neighbors as yellow. (Those towns are Ashland, Northborough, Hopkinton, Marlborough and Westborough.)
At this time, all of our secondary neighbors are designated yellow except for Milford (red) and three lower risk communities (Berlin, Boylston, and Sherborn).
Vaccination Reporting
As of Tuesday, 39% of Southborough residents were at least partially vaccinated
To the right are some of the key figures as of March 23rd by age group and by gender.
For more details, including data categorized by race and ethnicity click here.
Updated Town Data
The Town updated its figures as of yesterday morning at 9:00 am. At least 28 cases were confirmed in the prior 14 days, with at least 8 of those in the prior 7 days.
Note: In updating my graphs, I noticed an error in my spreadsheet for the March 28th data and graphs I reported on Monday.*
The Town’s cumulative total over the course of the pandemic was increased to 453 cases with 47 cases labeled active. (For details, click on updated graphs below.)
*An error caused me to over-report by 10 the number of cases in the 7 days prior to March 28th. It also impacted the graph that tracks cases by week.
Risk levels between towns that fall in to different size categories cannot be compared using the state color coding system.
For example, on a per capita basis in the past two weeks Northborough has had 21% more cases and 32% more positive tests than Southborough. So why is Southborough higher risk than Northborough?
In fact, since the pandemic started, on a per capita basis Northborough has had a total of 81% more cases and has usually had higher weekly case counts but has mostly been categorized as lower risk than Southborough.
Numbers will continue to rise with kids as sports pick up again, travel games with other towns, people (parents/adults especially) who don’t want to follow the rules, etc.
This week, the state opened up the last category of vulnerable residents who are prioritized to get shots early before eligibility opens up to the general public. The general public will be eligible on Apr 19.
So, by Apr 19, all vulnerable residents will have been offered to receive at least 1 dose of the vaccine. Also, there are good treatments available now. And hospitals are not overrun.
Kids sports have been full time since last summer, whether people realize it or not. There has been no real impact from sports or from in person schooling. The CDC has proven that out.
People need to start getting their heads wrapped around these facts, because once vaccinations are roughly complete sometime this summer (i.e. July 4) there is going to be a massive country-wide rejection of “following the rules”…