March 25, 2021 by Carol Britton Meyer
The number of new Hingham COVID-19 cases reported by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health each Thursday appears to be on a slow decline.
Hingham has remained in the medium-risk COVID-19 "yellow" zone for the past 10 weeks, with 39 new cases since last week's MDPH report.
Last week's MDPH report showed 42 new cases since the earlier report, with 46 the previous week and 45 the week before that. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Hingham since Jan. 1, 2020 is 1,738.
There were 81 new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 14 days, as compared with the same number last week, 85 the previous week, and 88 the week before that.
Vaccine rollout
According to MDPH’s daily COVID-19 vaccine report, more than 1.1 million individuals in Massachusetts had been fully vaccinated as of March 23. As of March 18, approximately 16.8 percent of Hingham residents had been fully vaccinated, according to Town Administrator Tom Mayo.
The MDPH recently announced the schedule for vaccine eligibility for all remaining groups in Massachusetts as follows:
* as of March 22: Residents 60 and older and certain workers, including public works, public health, water, and utility workers, became eligible for the vaccine.
* April 5: Residents 55+ and residents with one certain medical condition become eligible.
* April 19: General public ages 16 and older become eligible.
New hours for Hingham COVID-19 testing site
In December 2020, the town partnered with mPathy LLC to open a COVID-19 testing site at 308 Cushing St. "This site has played an important role in meeting a community need," Mayo said. "As the demand for COVID-19 tests has started to diminish over the last several weeks, we are adjusting the testing center hours to reflect that trend."
The COVID-19 testing center is now open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Preference for Hingham residents and town employees will still be given between 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. each testing day.
Appointments may be made online at https://www.mpathy.org/schedule Walk-ins are also accepted. mPathy will email individuals with appointments currently scheduled for a Tuesday or a Friday with a request to reschedule.
Reminders
* The Hingham Health Department posts weekly COVID-19 data from the MDPH and the Hingham Public Schools in a dashboard that is updated every Friday at https://www.hingham-ma.gov/860/COVID-19-Updates. All cases are laboratory-confirmed positive COVID-19 cases.
* Visit https://www.hingham-ma.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=940 for Updated COVID-19 Isolation and Quarantine Guidance.