BOSTON (WHDH) - The Department of Public Health reported 8,542 newly confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday. The numbers cover the period between noon on Thursday and 11:59 p.m. Friday.
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A total of 367,987 cases have been reported so far in Massachusetts with an estimated 79,092 active cases and a seven-day average positivity rate of 8.67 percent.
A total of 79 new deaths were confirmed, elevating the confirmed virus-related death toll to 12,236 statewide.
Two thousand, two hundred and eighty people are currently hospitalized and 412 are currently receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit. The average age of hospitalized persons is 73.
The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person, typically between people who are in close contact with one another and via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
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From Dec. 13 through Dec. 26, 9,907 people between the ages of 20-29 have tested positive. The highest rate of positives per age group.
Ages 0-19 came in next with 9,814, followed by 30-39 year-olds at 8,822. The lowest reported age group was those over 80 with just 2,441 confirmed cases in that two-week period.
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