The state reported four new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the week ending May 11, bringing the town’s cumulative number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began to 140. During the week of May 10, one Hildreth Elementary School student was out due to COVID-19, and six students or staff were quarantined because of close contact with someone with the virus.
According to the state’s weekly town-by-town vaccination report, the number of residents in Harvard that were fully vaccinated as of May 11 was 2,833, up from 2,410 a week earlier. Another 890 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 11, the percentage of fully vaccinated Harvard residents was about 51%, with another 16% partially vaccinated.
Statewide, during the week between May 11 and May 18, confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 3,370, down from the previous week’s increase of 5,141. There were 75 COVID-19-related deaths that same week, up from 51 the week before. On May 18 the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the state was 326, down from 441 a week earlier. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units was also down over that same week, from 117 to 93.
On May 18 the Bureau of Prisons website reported one active COVID-19 case among inmates at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, the same number as the week before, and no new cases among staff members. As of May 18, 478 inmates had been fully vaccinated, about 100 more than the previous week, and 348 staff members had been fully vaccinated. Since the pandemic began, 374 of the current inmates have recovered, 63 staff 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.
