Massachusetts health officials reported another 2,978 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 18 new deaths Wednesday, as well as the highest number of hospitalized patients since the beginning of March.
The report pushed the state's number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 841,972 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 18,915.
Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, had been far lower than they were in spring, but have been rising lately.
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Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests ticked up to 3.31% Wednesday. It was once above 30%, but had dropped under 0.5% until the delta variant began surging in the state.
The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 764, the most since March 1, according to state data; the figure was once nearly 4,000, but reached under an average of 85 at one point in July. Of those currently hospitalized, 290 are vaccinated, 165 are in intensive care units and 89 are intubated.
Nearly 11.2 million vaccine doses have now been administered in Massachusetts.
That includes, from the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, more than 5.3 million first shots, over 4.5 million second shots and more than 1 million booster shots. There have been more than 327,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
Health officials on Wednesday reported that a total of 4,837,266 Massachusetts residents have been fully vaccinated.
