The state reported no new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the two weeks ending June 1. The town’s cumulative number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began remains at 140. During the week of May 24, no students or staff at Harvard schools tested positive for COVID-19, and none were in quarantine. No results for the week of May 31 were available due to the Memorial Day holiday.
According to the state’s weekly town-by-town vaccination report, the number of residents in Harvard that were fully vaccinated as of May 25 was 3,280, up from 3,057 a week earlier. Another 709 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 25, the percentage of fully vaccinated Harvard residents was about 60%, with another 13% partially vaccinated.
Statewide, during the week between May 25 and June 1, confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 1,378, down from the previous week’s increase of 2,438. There were 45 COVID-19-related deaths that same week, down from 74 the week before. On June 1 the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the state was 225, down from 248 a week earlier. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units rose over that same week though, from 56 to 77.
On June 1 the Bureau of Prisons website reported no active COVID-19 cases among inmates or staff at the Federal Medical Center in Devens. As of June 1, 479 of the facility’s 726 inmates had been fully vaccinated, as had 348 staff members. Since the pandemic began, 370 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.
