Massachusetts health officials reported 3,485 new COVID-19 cases and 17 more deaths on Thursday.
This comes as local doctors push to reinstate mask mandates in certain locations as case counts continue to rise.
In total, there have been 1,707,849 cases and 19,392 deaths since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
More on the COVID-19 pandemic
The state reported 814 people hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Thursday's data release, with 275 being primary cases. Of the total hospitalizations, 79 are in intensive care and 31 are intubated.
Massachusetts' COVID metrics, tracked on the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard, have declined since the omicron surge, but case counts have been on an upward trajectory for several weeks.
This latest increase is being attributed to subvariants of omicron — first, it was the "stealth" omicron variant BA.2, and more recently the BA.2. 12.1 subvariant, which health officials say appears to be up to 27% more contagious than BA.2. However, there is no data to indicate it causes more serious illness.
The state's seven-day average positivity was at 8.32% Thursday, compared to 8.33% on Wednesday.
For context, the numbers are still below the types of case counts and hospitalizations seen at height of the omicron surge in January, when average daily case counts reached over 28,000 and hospitalizations peaked at around 3,300.
COVID levels in wastewater, as reported by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's tracking system have also been increasing, but the latest report shows levels declining somewhat.
It's important to note that the levels of virus seen in the wastewater remain nowhere near where they were during the peak of the omicron surge.
Experts have also said that case count reporting became a less accurate indicator during the omicron surge, given the difficulties in getting tested. Now, widespread use of rapid tests means that some results go unreported.
Nearly 14.8 million vaccine doses have now been administered in Massachusetts.
Health officials on Thursday reported that a total of 5,384,051 Massachusetts residents have been fully vaccinated.
