Massachusetts health officials reported another 1,109 confirmed coronavirus cases and 13 new deaths on Tuesday, while more than 2,000 new breakthrough cases were reported over the past week.
The report pushed the state's confirmed COVID-19 caseload to 682,240 since the start of the pandemic and its death toll to 17,743.
In the last week, 2,232 new breakthrough cases -- infections in people who have been vaccinated -- were reported on Tuesday, with 445 more people hospitalized and six new deaths. That brings the total to 9,969 cases and 106 deaths, though both figures remain a tiny percentage of the total number of all people who have been vaccinated.
The effects of COVID-19 are severely blunted in people who are fully vaccinated, and breakthrough cases rarely lead to hospitalizations or deaths. That's why public health officials worldwide continue to stress the importance of vaccination. (If you still need to be vaccinated, here's a tool to find the closest vaccination provider to your home.)
Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, are far lower than they were several months ago, though some have been rising in recent weeks. While breakthrough cases are being reported, officials say most new cases, and especially serious infections, are in the unvaccinated.
Massachusetts' seven-day average of positive tests rose to 2.72% on Monday. It was once above 30%, but had dropped under 0.5% until the delta variant began surging in the state.
The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 334; the figure was once nearly 4,000, but averaged under 85 in July. Of those currently hospitalized, 78 are listed as being in intensive care units and 33 are intubated.
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Nearly 9 million vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts as of Tuesday. That includes nearly 4.6 million first shots and more than 4.1 million second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. There have been more than 293,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.
Health officials on Tuesday reported that a total of 4,397,380 Bay State residents have been fully vaccinated.
