It’s been three weeks since Massachusetts began the first phase of reopening, and on Monday June 8th, we entered Phase 2. Phase 2 means additional industries can resume operation with restrictions and capacity limitations. According to MDPH’s COVID-19 Dashboard, COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations, the percentage of people testing positive, and the number of hospitals using surge capacity have all continued to decline.
Below is a graph illustrating the 3-day average number of COVID-19 deaths in Western Massachusetts based on county-level data available on the MDPH website. On June 1st, MDPH began including probable COVID-19 cases and deaths in their reports per guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This change led to an increase in the cumulative number of cases and deaths reported in Massachusetts starting on that date. County-level death data available on the MDPH website does not distinguish between probable and confirmed cases as it does with statewide data. Because of this, we did not incorporate data from June in the graph as it is not comparable.
Graph created by PHIWM using data from MDPH Archive of COVID-19 data https://www.mass.gov/info-details/archive-of-covid-19-cases-in-massachusetts#may-2020-
It will be important to continue monitoring the data as there could be a resurgence of cases as we move further into reopening.
