Massachusetts COVID-19 trends remain positive Wednesday, Baker expanding data collection

Massachusetts saw once again a decrease in hospitalizations in Wednesday’s report as overall cases continue to trend lower.

Massachusetts has seen 267 more positive cases announced in the last 24 hours. A slight increase from the previous 24 hour period.

The Massachusetts Department of Health statistics show a rise in total cases to 104,156 with 46 more reported dead for a total of 7,454.

Massachusetts had seen 263 more positive cases in the previous 24 hour period.

10,034 tests were performed, more than doubling yesterday’s total, to increase the overall total to 668,092.

Hospitalizations have decreased in 26 of the last 29 days with a continued decline in deaths overall.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard

As of June 1st, the Department of Public Health began reporting both confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and deaths.

This change is in accordance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control to include “probable” COVID-19 cases and deaths in data collection and reporting efforts. This change has increased the number of cases and deaths reported in Massachusetts.

Cases by City and Town as of June 10th.

Count and Rate (per 100,000) of Confirmed COVID-19 Cases and Persons Tested1 in MA by City/Town, January 1, 2020 – June 10, 2020

Massachusetts residents subject to COVID-19 quarantine by current status up to June 10th
• Total of individuals subject to quarantine: 65,728
• Total of individuals who have completed monitoring (no longer in quarantine): 58,912
• Total of individuals currently undergoing monitoring/under quarantine: 6,816

According to the CDC, as of June 10th, the total amount of cases in the country is 1,973,797 with 112,133 dead.

In related news, Governor Charlie Baker has filed “An Act to Ensure the Collection of COVID-19 Data,” which will build on legislation recently signed by the governor to expand data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Throughout the pandemic, our administration has continued to expand the information that is made available daily to the public, and this bill will build on the legislation recently passed by the Legislature to further increase data collection by the Department of Public Health,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “COVID-19 has taken a tremendous toll on the residents of the Commonwealth, and has disproportionately impacted certain populations including communities of color and older residents. We have moved to file this bill quickly to ensure that entities are required to report to DPH in a timely way, and look forward to working with the Legislature to pass these updates to help further address the health disparities affecting these communities.”

“This bill will help further enhance the data our administration publishes daily to inform the public about the impact of COVID-19 within the Commonwealth,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We know that some communities have disproportionately felt the impact of this terrible virus, and we will continue to work with the Legislature to address these issues.”

This week, Governor Baker signed “An Act Addressing COVID-19 Data Collection and Disparities in Treatment,” which will allow for the collection and publication of additional data to understand the impact of COVID-19 on underserved and underrepresented populations and other groups.

The bill filed by Governor Baker proposes several updates to this law to ensure the timely reporting of information to the Department of Public Health (DPH).

The quality of the data reported by the Department is entirely dependent on the quality and completeness of the data that is submitted by health care providers and laboratories. While the newly passed law makes clear that DPH is required to collect data on COVID-19 cases and patient demographics, it does not codify the providers’ and laboratories’ responsibility to timely and completely report this data to the department. The governor’s legislation amends the reporting law to make this responsibility clear, and to give DPH the power to issue fines if providers do not comply.

The recently passed bill also requires that a list of designated elder care facilities report COVID-19 data about their residents and staff. While it makes sense to collect this data from the facilities that have access to their residents’ health information, like nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities, this law also imposes this obligation on housing complexes and rental units that merely offer housing to the elderly. The governor’s legislation proposes to remove this requirement due to privacy considerations and concerns over the quality of data available from these entities.

The governor’s bill also includes an amendment that would allow the Department to aggregate the data where not doing so would violate federal law or an individuals’ privacy right.