Worcester announces 42 new cases of coronavirus and two deaths, but city reports more than 40% drop in patients at hospitals since start of May

The city of Worcester reported 42 new cases of coronavirus on Friday increasing the overall total to 4,102 since the start of the pandemic.

The number of COVID-positive patients at Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health Care continued to decrease, though. On May 1, the facilities had a total of 284 positive patients, the city said. On Friday, the city announced 166, a drop of 23 from Thursday.

The total number of ICU patients was 61, six fewer than Thursday. On May 1, the facilities cared for 107 patients in the ICU.

Since the start of the pandemic, the facilities have reported 271 COVID-related deaths. The number increased by two on Friday. A total of 329 hospital employees in the city have tested positive, which was an increase of nine from the previous day.

Shrewsbury with 270, Millbury with 220, and Leicester with 134 experienced no change in cases from the previous day. Holden, with 79 cases, experienced two more cases from Thursday. Grafton, at 82, increased by one.

City officials earlier this week said the are confident the surge of cases is behind Worcester.

“It does seem like we’re on the other side of the surge locally,” City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said.

Still officials emphasized the importance of wearing masks and continuing practicing social distancing.

“That works. It just works,” Augustus said. “And as we go into this and more reopening phases, phase one, phase two, etc. People need to keep wearing the masks, keep doing social distancing even as we have more opportunities to get out and about.”

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