Massachusetts reports 2,616 new coronavirus cases, breakthrough case count keeps climbing

State health officials on Tuesday reported 2,616 new coronavirus cases, as total COVID hospitalizations in the Bay State continued to climb ahead of Thanksgiving.

The state Department of Public Health also reported 6,917 breakthrough cases from last week, which was up from the tally of 5,313 breakthrough infections during the previous week. The breakthrough count has been rising in the last few weeks.

After the new 2,616 daily virus cases, the seven-day average of daily cases has now spiked to 1,969. This is up from the daily average of 1,129 infections a few weeks ago.

The positive test average has also been rising, now standing at 3.28% — up from 1.67% a few weeks ago. The daily positive test rate for Tuesday’s report was 3.53%.

The state reported 24 new COVID deaths, bringing the state’s total recorded death toll to 19,309. The seven-day average of deaths is now 8.0. The record-low daily death average was 1.3 in mid-July.

There are now 740 COVID patients in the state, a daily jump of 32 patients.

The last time the state had such a high count of COVID patients was in early April — when the general population had not been eligible for vaccination yet.

The state reported that 154 patients are in intensive care units, and 80 patients are currently intubated.

Of the 740 total hospitalizations, 273 patients are fully vaccinated — or about 37%. Those who are unvaccinated are at a much higher risk for a severe case.