Massachusetts public health officials confirmed another 2,301 cases of the coronavirus and 40 new deaths on Friday.
It's the second straight day with more than 2,250 cases reported in the Bay State. On Thursday, officials reported 2,274 new cases, which had been the most since Feb. 7.
Friday's update puts the total of confirmed cases at 588,599 and the death toll at 16,711, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Another 340 deaths are considered probably linked to COVID-19.
Massachusetts' coronavirus metrics had been trending downward to start the year, though some, like the average number of new cases per day and average number of tests returning positive, have leveled off in recent weeks, according to the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard. The figures reported daily are important for tracking trends with the virus' spread, though a single-day change may not reflect a larger trend, and sometimes reflects incomplete data.
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The percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive, on average, ticked up to 2.32% after being at 2.22%.
The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 decreased to 622. Of that number, 139 were listed as being in intensive care units and 84 were intubated, according to health officials.
The number of estimated active cases increased to 28,810 from 28,078 on Thursday.
Also on Friday, Massachusetts received approval for a FEMA mass vaccination site at Boston's Hynes Convention Center. It was already a mass vaccination site, but the FEMA partnership is expected to bring an additional 6,000 federal doses to the facility per day, the state said.
