January 14, 2022 By Carol Britton Meyer
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported 589 new COVID-19 cases in Hingham during the 14-day period ending Jan. 13, compared to 234 cases during the two-week timeframe ending Dec. 30.
"It's important to note that many residents are now taking home-based testing, the results of which are most often not reported and therefore not included in these statistics," Town Administrator Tom Mayo told the Select Board Thursday night. "As a result, we are assuming that the actual number of positive cases is much higher than these statistics show."
The overall vaccination rate for Hingham is now 82 percent for fully vaccinated individuals. "If you look at only vaccine-eligible individuals in Hingham (ages 5 and over), the percent of fully-vaccinated eligible residents is 88 percent," he said. About 61 percent of Hingham residents ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated at this time, according to the MDPH.
Drive-up testing site now open
A temporary regional COVID-19 drive-through testing site, supported by the towns of Hingham, Cohasset, Hull, and Scituate, completed its second day of operation at 335 Lincoln St., Hingham, on Thursday.
"Clinic operations have improved substantially over two days, with reduced wait times," Mayo reported. "Thanks are due to the many teams supporting the site -- including the Hingham building, DPW, health, IT, and police departments -- for their work in preparing the site."
Testing center days and hours of operation are Mondays, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PCR, rapid antigen, and rapid antibody tests are available. PCR tests are provided at no cost to the patient and will be billed to a person’s insurance provider or, if uninsured, will be free. Rapid antigen and rapid antibody tests cost $129 and $75 respectively.
"Residents and employees of the Town of Hingham, Hull, Cohasset, and Scituate will continue to have priority appointment access from 7 to 11 a.m. daily," Mayo noted.
Online pre-registration at https://www.covidclinic.org/hingham-ma/ is required; no tests will be administered without an appointment. All participants will be notified of test results by email.