In one week, Worcester County coronavirus cases rose from 73 to 433, as death toll rises to six
Photo | Grant Welker
Quest Diagnostics' lab in Marlborough has handled a bulk of the state's coronavirus tests.
Worcester County's confirmed coronavirus cases hit 433 on Tuesday, while the state's total rose to 6,620, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Those numbers are up from 73 and 1,159 a week ago Tuesday, the day after Massachusetts began testing for the disease in earnest.
On Tuesday, deaths spiked by 33, including two in Worcester County, a man in his 80s and a man in his 70s, both having been hospitalized. But that number is sure to spike. UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester had seven deaths Tuesday morning alone, hospital president and CEO Eric Dickson said at an afternoon press conference.
Those UMass Memorial cases could bring the Worcester County total to 13, depending on whether the Tuesday morning cases were counted in the day's tally from the Department of Public Health.
Most of those killed so far, which now totals 89 across Massachusetts, have been in their 70s or older, and many with existing conditions that make them more susceptible to the virus, according to the Department of Public Health.
Worcester County's one-day increase in total cases was 11%, while statewide cases rose by 868, or 15%. Cases in the city of Worcester total 115 through Tuesday.
UMass Memorial had 71 patients under investigation for coronavirus and 67 positive inpatient cases, including 20 in critical care. So far, 19 employees have tested positive.
The latest numbers come as state officials have released a plan to use Worcester's DCU Center as one of three statewide emergency medical centers, with 250 beds for patients with lower acuity of coronavirus symptoms.
Memorial Medical Center in Worcester has set up six specialized care units for coronavirus patients and is planning to add three more, as health officials plan for a surge of patients in the days and weeks ahead. The hospital has been moving intensive care unit beds at the two campuses to create dedicated areas to minimize the risk of spreading the virus, conserve protective equipment for staff, and convert patient rooms to negative pressure, which keeps room air from circulating to the rest of the floor.
Operating rooms and additional recovery room spaces may be used as so-called surge space if needed, but only as a last resort, according to UMass' plan.
Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Worcester, which stands next to UMass Memorial's University Campus, is also being converted to caring strictly for coronavirus patients, the first of what is planned to be several such sites set up at the direction of the state.
[Related: Reliant caring for the caregivers, offering therapy sessions for those treating coronavirus patients]
Testing has also become more widespread, with nearly 47,000 tests conducted as of Tuesday, an increase from nearly 43,000 the day before.
Massachusetts cases are projected to peak sometime between April 7 and April 17, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The institute forecasts deaths to peak April 15 with somewhere between 42 to 86 deaths a day.
The state is projected by the institute to have roughly 1,500 deaths by early August.
The institute's researchers project national deaths to peak in mid-April at between 1,100 to 3,300 deaths a day, with between 37,000 to 156,000 deaths by the time cases plateau around mid-June.
The United States has more than 177,000 cases as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, with more than 3,400 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Worldwide, the university has reported 838,000 cases and more than 40,000 deaths.
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