Massachusetts reports new single-day high for coronavirus cases of 6,887

Jan. 1—Public health officials reported another 81 coronavirus deaths and 6,887 new cases on Thursday — a record single-day high in new infections to round out a year full of grim pandemic milestones.

Thursday's tally of 6,887 new cases surged above Wednesday's count of 6,135. The previous high was 6,477 new cases on Dec. 3, but 680 of those were backlogged.

There were 359,445 confirmed coronavirus cases in the commonwealth this year and 15,733 probable cases, including another 373 that were reported on Thursday by the Department of Public Health.

And there an estimated 80,359 active cases as of Thursday.

Another 95,827 tests were reported Thursday for a total of 10.9 million since March.

The seven-day weighted average positive test rate ticked up to 8.6% from 8.3%. That average with testing from higher-education institutions removed is 9.4%.

There are 2,271 patients currently hospitalized with the virus, including 417 in intensive care units and 240 who are intubated. The seven-day average number of hospitalizations ticked up to 2,192 — up from 1,100 at the start of the month.

The 81 new fatalities bring the state's death toll from confirmed cases to 12,157. Four deaths from probable cases were also reported on Thursday, bringing the combined confirmed and probable death toll to 12,423.

The seven-day average number of deaths was 60, up from 36 at the start of the month.

Long-term care facilities reported another 31 deaths for a total of 7,371. There have been 416 facilities that have reported at least one COVID-19 case and 30,756 residents and workers who have been sickened.

More than 83 million people have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide, including 19.9 million Americans, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. And the U.S. leads the world in the most deaths from the disease, with more than 344,000 of the 1.8 million fatalities across the globe.

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