Boston COVID-19 test positivity rate rises over 5 percent amid unease about BA.2 subvariant
Community positivity was one of three key metrics Mayor Michelle Wu was watching while considering whether to drop the city’s indoor vaccine mandate in mid-February.
The percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive in Boston has edged over 5 percent, amid unease about the possible impact of the Omicron subvariant BA.2. Cases are also ticking up.
According to data files posted by the Boston Public Health Commission, the city’s community positivity rate was 5.03 percent as of Wednesday. The all-Boston positivity rate, which adds in routine tests of college students, was 2.4 percent. The community positivity rate had dropped precipitously from a high of over 32 percent during the original Omicron wave earlier this year. It dropped below 5 percent in mid-February and dropped below 3 percent for several weeks before starting to rise again in mid-March.
Community positivity was one of three key metrics Mayor Michelle Wu was watching while considering whether to drop the city’s indoor vaccine mandate in mid-February. She wanted the number to go below the 5 percent “threshold of concern.” (The other two metrics, percentage of occupied ICU beds and number of adult hospitalizations, remain below thresholds set by the city.) The number of people testing positive every day has also ticked up slightly in Boston, according to data from the health commission.
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