North End, Surrounding Area’s COVID Cases Drop

Two weeks ago, the North End and the surrounding area’s COVID weekly positive test rate skyrocketed nearly 50 percent but the positive cases in the area have begun to decline.

Between September 13 and September 20 Beacon Hill and the surrounding neighborhood’s positive test rate increased 46 percent.

However, according to the weekly report released Monday by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), 2,366 North End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, West End and Downtown residents were tested and 2.4 percent were positive. This was a 37 percent increase from the 3.8 percent of residents that tested positive between September 13 and September 20. 

Citywide, the weekly positive test rate also decreased and dropped 27 percent last week. According to the BPHC 24,203 residents were tested and 3 percent were COVID positive–this was a 27 percent decrease from the 4.1 percent reported by the BPHC on Sept. 20.

The BPHC data released Monday showed North End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, West End and Downtown had an infection rate of 760.5 cases per 10,000 residents–a 1.8 percent increase from the 747.2 cases per 10,000 residents reported on September 20.

Seventy-four additional residents have been infected with the virus between September 20 and September 27 and the total number of cases in the area increased to 4,238 cases overall since the pandemic began.

The statistics released by the BPHC as part of its weekly COVID19 report breaks down the number of cases and infection rates in each neighborhood. It also breaks down the number of cases by age, gender and race.

Citywide positive cases of coronavirus increased 1 percent since Sept. 20 and went from 79,268 cases to 80,242 confirmed cases in a week. There were five additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total COVID deaths is now at 1,423.