The state reported three new COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the week ending March 5, the same number of cases reported the prior week. This brings the town’s cumulative number of confirmed cases to 562. For the week beginning March 14, the Harvard Public Schools reported six students absent with COVID-19.
According to the state’s weekly vaccination report, 4,614 residents in Harvard were fully vaccinated as of March 8, an increase of one from a week earlier. Another 537 had received one dose of a two-dose vaccine, a decrease of one from the previous week, and 3,074 residents had received a booster dose, eight more than a week earlier. Using the town clerk’s Nov. 8 population data, the percentage of Harvard residents eligible for the vaccine (5 and older) and fully vaccinated as of March 8 remains at 85.9%, and the partially vaccinated percentage remains at 10%. These numbers do not include Devens residents or inmates at its Federal Medical Center.
Between March 8 and March 14, the state reported 4,276 confirmed COVID-19 cases, down from 5,175 the previous week. As of March 14, 227 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Massachusetts, 64 fewer than a week earlier, and 31 patients were in ICUs, 15 fewer than a week earlier. Last week the state updated its definition of a COVID-19 death to follow the guidance of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. As a result, the total number of deaths reported on March 14 was significantly lower than the total reported the previous week, so this column does not include weekly data on COVID-19-related deaths.
On March 15 the Federal Bureau of Prisons website reported three COVID-19 cases among inmates at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, two fewer than the previous week, and two cases among staff, six fewer than the previous week. Since the pandemic began, 393 of the current inmates and 187 staff have recovered from COVID-19; 13 inmates died of the virus.
Editor's note: The first paragraph of this article has been updated with information from the Harvard Public Schools
