coronavirus

Mass. Tops 200,000 COVID Cases, 24 New Deaths Reported

There have now been 10,281 confirmed deaths and 200,050 cases, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

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Massachusetts exceeded 200,000 total confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday as state health officials announced 2,721 more cases of the virus and 24 new deaths.

There have now been 10,281 confirmed deaths and 200,050 cases since the pandemic began, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Another 231 deaths are considered probably linked to COVID-19.

The percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive, on average, has ticked slightly down to 3.02%, according to the report.

The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 stands at 893 in Sunday's report. Of that number, 192 were listed as being in intensive care units and 88 are intubated, according to the DPH.

The new numbers in Massachusetts come as the United States topped 12 million cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. The nationwide surge in cases and uncontrolled spread has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to urge Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving.

As coronavirus cases rise, Massachusetts has removed two nearby states from its lower-risk travel list.

Amid rising concern that holiday travel and gatherings could worsen a surge in coronavirus cases across New England and the country, local officials have implemented new COVID-19 restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus and issued advisories for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Massachusetts is now requiring that people arriving in the state from New Hampshire and Maine to stay in quarantine for two weeks, adding them to a list of higher-risk states.

Travelers from states that aren't on the low-risk list must fill out the Massachusetts Travel Form and quarantine for 14 days, according to the state's guidelines. That includes anyone who's coming from one of the low-risk states but stayed "for more than a transitory period of time in the last 14 days" in a higher-risk state.

In a list of guidelines specific to Thanksgiving, Massachusetts is suggesting that those who plan to host a holiday celebration keep it limited to only people you live with. The guidelines also indicate that people should consider celebrating the holiday virtually, especially if anyone is at higher risk for illness from COVID-19.

Sixty-two communities in the Bay State are now considered at the highest risk for transmitting the coronavirus in the state, according to the most recent weekly community-level data on the pandemic, which no longer includes an updated town-by-town COVID-19 risk assessment map. That total is more than double the 30 towns and cities in the report last week.

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