Framingham Surpasses 16,000 COVID Cases; City Decides Not To Update Coronavirus Cases Weekly

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FRAMINGHAM – To start the month of February 2022, the City of Framingham surpassed 16,000 COVID cases since the pandemic began in early 2020.

That means roughly 23% of the City has tested positive for the coronavirus during this pandemic, based on the City’s 2020 census number of 72,363.

The City had 5 new COVID deaths this week. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, there have now been 270 deaths.

But the City of Framingham is not reporting any of this news.

You can’t even find the numbers on the City’s website.

Starting last week, Framingham Health Director Alex DePalo and the Sisitsky administration have decided not to report weekly COVID-19 cases to the public.

“As of February 2, 2022, the Framingham Public Health Department will no longer be reporting the number of COVID-19 cases in Framingham because the City receives results only of PCR tests. The large number of Rapid Antigen tests administered in private homes are not reported to the state data system, which informs portions of Framingham’s COVID-19 Weekly Data Report,” said City of Framingham in a press release.

But the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is still reporting COVID numbers weekly, including numbers for the City of Framingham.

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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported last Thursday, February 3, the City of Framingham had 16,562 total COVID cases. On January 26, the City of Framingham reported 15,827 total COVID cases.

That means there were 735 new COVID cases took place in the City of Framingham, according to the state. That does not count any homes COVID tests not reported to primary care doctors or the state. So the number could be even higher.

The City’s COVID cases are decreasing.

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On January 26, the City of Framingham reported 701 new COVID cases and 7 new deaths.

On January 19, the City of Framingham reported 1,452 new COVID cases.

On January 12, the City of Framingham reported 1,927 new COVID cases.

The Commonwealth also reported the City’s positivity rate for COVID-19 over the last 14 days was at 11.88%.

On January 19, a joint order of the Mayor and the Board of Health went into effect, which required masks for all in public indoor spaces. 

The City of Framingham is also no longer reporting COVID cases by age or by race/ethnicity.

The Framingham Public School District is still reporting cases daily on its dashboard.

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All schools, including the Framingham Public Schools, Keefe Tech, and the Christa McAuliffe Charter School, are still reporting cases by staff and by student to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

Framingham State University is still reporting its cases weekly on its dashboard.

But the City of Framingham has opted to not report COVID cases publicly anymore and instead is only reporting its vaccine data.

The City however is still encouraging residents who do test positive for COVID to contact the City’s Health Department.

“Because the Framingham Health Department does not receive the results from Rapid Antigen
home tests, residents who test positive may not receive a letter or phone call from the Health
Department Nurse at this time. Follow the isolation and quarantine guidelines
here: https://www.framinghamma.gov/290/Public-Health,” wrote the City in its February 2 press release.