North End, Surrounding Area’s COVID Positive Test-Rate Increases to Nearly 13 Percent

The North End and the surrounding area’s weekly positive test rate is back on the rise and jumped to nearly 13 percent last week as another summer surge of the COVID omicron sub variants takes hold across the country. According to the latest data by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), 677 North End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, West End and Downtown residents were tested for the virus last week and 12.8 percent were positive–this was a whopping 31 percent increase from the 9.8 percent that tested positive between June 27 and July 4. Eighty seven additional residents contracted the virus between July 4 and July 11 and there have now been 11,531 confirmed cases in the neighborhood since the start of the pandemic. Boston’s citywide weekly positive test rate also increased last week According to the BPHC, 9,604 Boston residents tested citywide and 8.1 percent were positive—a 7 percent increase from the 7.6 percent that tested positive between June 27 and July 4. 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 0.62 percent last week and went from 194,604 to 195,825 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.  There were 15 additional deaths in Boston from the virus in the past week and the total number of COVID deaths is now at 1,493.