Massachusetts reported 370 new confirmed coronavirus cases Sunday and an additional 10 deaths.
There have now been 8,917 confirmed deaths and 120,824 cases, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The seven-day weighted average of positive tests was less than 1%.
An additional 1,738 cases are listed as probable in Sunday's report, and the total number of coronavirus deaths in the daily COVID-19 report is listed as 9,125, indicating there are 208 more deaths that are considered probable at this time.
The true number of cases is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick. There were more than 300 people reported hospitalized Sunday because of COVID-19, and more than 50 in intensive care units. The number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 related deaths at long-term care homes rose to nearly 5,850 or about 64% of all confirmed and probable deaths in Massachusetts attributed to the disease.
State and local officials are cracking down on the spread of the novel coronavirus over the holiday weekend, closely monitoring any signs of large Labor Day crowds that violate state guidelines.
With another beautiful weather day Sunday, people were heading out to beaches and parks across the state. In order to ensure people are social distancing, officials have staged enforcement teams in 15 different locations, particularly focused on the communities with dangerously high transmission rates.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced a new campaign on Thursday to ramp up enforcement efforts in Massachusetts' five high-risk communities: Chelsea, Revere, Lynn, Everett, and Lawrence.
The campaign, which is the extension of the recently-created COVID Enforcement and Intervention Team, will feature billboard ads, digital and social media messaging, multi-lingual field teams, phone and text outreach, and communication with local organizations.
The five high-risk communities were named in Wednesday's new community-level risk assessment map and show the number of cases detected on average each day over the last two weeks. More than 8 cases per 100,000 translate to high risk, between 4 and 8 cases per 100,000 is moderate risk, and any less than that is low risk, Baker explained last month.
