As Labor Day weekend unfolded at beaches and backyard barbecues around Massachusetts, more than 1,000 people were newly diagnosed with COVID-19, pushing the state's total case count above 121,000 people six months into the global pandemic.
The state Department of Public Health confirmed 416 new coronavirus cases Saturday, 370 new cases Sunday and another 222 new cases on Monday, a total of 1,008 for the weekend. The state's cumulative total now stands at 121,046 people.
The state also announced 15 recent COVID-19 deaths Saturday, 10 deaths Sunday and eight deaths on Monday, a total of 33 deaths announced over the weekend. Since mid-March, the virus has killed 9,133 people with confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases.
The Department of Public Health said the 7-day average of the positive test rate, one of the metrics that state officials watch most closely, has remained at its all-time low of 0.9% since Sept. 2.
The website Rt.live, which estimates and tracks COVID-19 transmission rates by state, said the current Rt for the coronavirus in Massachusetts is an estimated 0.95 as of Monday. The Rt value is essentially the number of people that one infected person transmits the virus to and any value greater than 1.0 indicates rapid spread of the virus.
Between midday Friday and midday Monday, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 decreased by 11. As of Monday, there were 322 people being treated for the virus in Massachusetts hospitals, state health officials said.
