The state reported no new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the week ending May 4. The town’s cumulative number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began remains at 136. During the week of May 3, no students tested positive in the school testing program; no results were available by press time for the week of May 10.
According to the state’s weekly town-by-town vaccination report, the number of residents in Harvard that were fully vaccinated as of May 4 was 2,410, up from 2,148 a week earlier. Another 1,179 had received one dose of a two-dose vaccine. Town Clerk Marlene Kenney reported Harvard’s population, excluding Devens residents, was 5,502 on April 1, based on voter registration numbers and the annual town census. Devens residents are not included in Harvard’s vaccinated population count published by the state, so as of May 4, the percentage of fully vaccinated Harvard residents was about 44%, with another 21% partially vaccinated.
Statewide, during the week between May 4 and May 11, confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 5,141, down from the previous week’s increase of 6,931. There were 51 COVID-19-related deaths that same week, down from 78 the week before. On May 11 the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the state was 441, down from 516 a week earlier. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units was also down over that same week, from 136 to 117.
On May 11 the Bureau of Prisons website reported one active COVID-19 case among inmates at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, down one from the week before. During the week of May 11, no new cases were reported among staff members. As of May 11, 382 inmates had been fully vaccinated (about half) and 344 staff had been fully vaccinated. Since the pandemic began 63 staff have recovered from COVID-19, 375 inmates have recovered, and 11 inmates died of complications from the virus.
Editor’s Note: The state’s vaccination database uses federal census data for town and city populations; for Harvard, that data includes Devens residents and the 2019 count of the inmates at the Federal Medical Center in Devens. However, the state is not including Devens residents or inmates from FMC Devens in its vaccinated population numbers by town. As a result, the state’s reported percentages of the Harvard population that has been vaccinated, including overall, and by age, gender, and race, are not accurate.
