State health officials on Tuesday confirmed another 2,567 COVID cases, bringing the number of active cases nationwide to 93,300.
Officials also announced another 45 COVID-related deaths, with a total of 13,469 deaths since the pandemic began.
The average of seven days of positive tests is currently 5.94%. There are now 2,213 patients hospitalized across the country with COVID-19, including 432 patients in intensive care, of whom 277 are being incubated.
After a boom after the holidays, the state saw the weekly number of new COVID cases drop after three weeks of sharp increase. The pandemic peak for Massachusetts occurred the week of January 2 with 42,495 new cases. By comparison, the number of new cases last week was 30,186. However, the drop comes two days after health officials confirmed the first case of the highly contagious COVID variant, which spread in the UK in Massachusetts. The person who tested positive for the new strain is a Boston woman in her twenties who fell ill after traveling to the UK, DPH officials said Sunday.
COVID deaths in the state also leveled off after 11 weeks of increases, although it remains relatively high and is about 50% higher weekly than the week before Thanksgiving.
There have now been 454,102 cases of coronavirus confirmed in Massachusetts since the pandemic began.
The latest figures come when Government Representative Charlie Baker announced that the state would expand its COVID vaccination to include more shots in the pharmacies of CVS Health and Walgreens across the state.
As part of the expansion, Baker also confirmed that Fenway Park will become the state’s second mass vaccination site after announcing Gillette Stadium last week.
Fifteen CVS and Walgreens stores across Massachusetts are receiving 10,000 doses of vaccine this week, officials said. These stores are located in Greenfield, Fall River, Salem, South Yarmouth, Pittsfield, Lee, Holden, Gardner, Hyannis, Mashpee, Somerset, Fairhaven, Haverhill, Saugus and Danvers.
Nearly 40 vaccination sites will be added next week by pharmacies and additional partners, including Wegmans, Big Y, Price Chopper, Stop & Shop and Hannaford, officials said.
Total COVID cases per country:
Barnstable County: 7,499
Berkshire County: 4,081
Bristol County: 45 439
Dukes County: 676
Essex County: 71,834
Franklin County: 1,615
Hampden County: 33,547
Hampshire County: 5,081
Middlesex County: 93,861
Nantucket County: 990
Norfolk County: 35,740
Plymouth County: 32 246
Suffolk County: 66,066
Worcester County: 54,092
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