ATTLEBORO — The 10-community Sun Chronicle area recorded 197 new cases of coronavirus for the week ending Aug. 12, according to numbers provided by the state’s Department of Public Health.
That number reflects an increase of 65 cases — or 49 percent — over the 132 new cases recorded for the week ending Aug. 5.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday that all the counties in Massachusetts, as well as in Connecticut, are the sites of high or substantial transmission of COVID-19.
The rise of transmission in the two states mirrors a nationwide and regional trend.
Some health authorities are recommending that vaccinated people go back to wearing masks indoors in areas of high or substantial transmission.
That includes almost all of New England.
The CDC reported that every county in the six-state region was the site of high or substantial transmission on Sunday except Orange County, Vermont, and Kennebec County, Maine.
In Massachusetts, Bristol County — which includes much of the Attleboro area — along with Suffolk, Nantucket, Dukes, Plymouth, Essex, Hampden and Berkshire counties were the site of high transmission and the other six counties in the state were substantial.
New England continues to pace the nation in COVID-19 vaccine use, and Massachusetts is close to Vermont for the highest rate in the region.
About 74% of Massachusetts has had a first dose of vaccine. Only Vermont is higher at 75%. All six states are above 65%. The nationwide number if a little less than 60%.
The New England states and Hawaii continue to have some of the highest vaccination rates in the country.
In the week ending Aug. 5, 66 new cases were recorded in the Attleboro area, which was an increase of 100 percent over the previous week.
The positive test percentage for the virus increased by 1.09 points from 2.42 percent to 3.51 percent for the week ending Aug. 12.
No new deaths were recorded with nine of the Sun Chronicle’s 10 communities reporting.
The death toll actually went down by two for the area.
In Attleboro, two deaths were subtracted either because the deceased were not residents or the cause of death was changed.
Attleboro’s total now stands at 121 and the area’s at 292.
The 197 cases is the most since the week ending April 22, 2021, when 266 were recorded.
The fewest new cases recorded for one week came in the week ending July 8 when there were six.
The most in one week for the area came in the week ending Dec. 10 when 914 were recorded.
Cases have increased every week for five weeks.
All told, the area has recorded 16,884 coronavirus cases and 292 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Medical officials blame the delta variant for the recent spike in cases which has been described as more contagious, but less deadly.
The number of deaths in the Sun Chronicle area has not increased during those five weeks.
Statewide, the number of cases has also spiked.
For the week ending Aug. 13, the state recorded 7,474 new cases.
The lowest number was recorded in the week ending July 2 when 383 cases were reported.
The numbers have gone up every week since.
But deaths have not risen as rapidly.
The 45 confirmed deaths recorded for the week ending Aug. 13 is the most since the week ending May 29 when 46 were recorded.
That week, however, there were only 1,723 new cases reported which means a higher percentage, (2.66 percent compared to 6/10 of one percent) of the victims were dying.
Most of those who have died are older or have underlying conditions.
On Friday, the state reported that the average age of those who have died from coronavirus is 73.
The most new cases recorded in one week statewide came in the week ending Jan. 9 when 39,946 were reported along with 562 deaths.
The highest death toll in one week was recorded in the week ending April 25, 2020, when 1,170 were reported along with 16,976 cases.
Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
