Saturday was the ninth straight day state health officials reported at least 500 new coronavirus cases in its daily report.
BOSTON — Another 550 Massachusetts residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 21 more people died, the state Department of Public Health reported Saturday.
Saturday was the ninth straight day state health officials reported at least 500 new coronavirus cases in its daily report. As of Oct. 17, there’s been 139,903 confirmed cases in Massachusetts and 9,503 deaths.
The state has 500 residents hospitalized with COVID-19 with 88 currently in the intensive care unit, according to Peabody Patch.
Despite the spike in cases over the last week, Gov. Charlie Baker said in a news conference Tuesday that the state has some of the best preparation in the country, and Massachusetts is well-equipped moving forward.
“Over the past few weeks we started to see an increase in the number of COVID cases here and across the country and in many other countries,” Baker said. “For months, public health experts have forecasted this increase.”
The governor said the rise isn’t indicative of a second surge of the coronavirus.
“I don’t consider where we are to be anywhere near [a second surge,]” Baker said.
Baker said the state will soon be able to test 100,000 people per day, and there is enough personal protective equipment for first responders and health care providers through the end of 2021. The state stockpile has 1,200 ventilators.
That would be a significant increase over the 12,395 daily test conducted, according to Saturday’s report. Since the pandemic’s beginning in March, Massachusetts has conducted 2,499,045 coronavirus tests.
