43% Of All New Covid Cases In July Occurred In People Who Were Fully Vaccinated

wcvb  |  Massachusetts public health officials reported 716 new COVID-19 breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated individuals in the past week, data from the Department of Public Health shows.

A breakthrough case is when an individual tests positive for COVID-19 after they've been fully vaccinated against the disease.

Advertisement

Numbers from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health show there have been 5,166 cases of COVID-19 in fully vaccinated individuals as of July 17, a significant increase from the 4,450 reported one week earlier.

As of Tuesday, the DPH reported 1,649 new positive COVID-19 cases between July 10 and July 16.

When analyzing the number of overall COVID-19 cases reported by the DPH between July 10 and July 16, the breakthrough cases account for 43.4 percent of all new COVID-19 cases.

Massachusetts doctors say the biggest cause is the arrival of the COVID-19 delta variant, which is twice as infectious than the original virus.

"We also know that people who have the Delta variant actually have 1,000 times the amount of virus in their nose, in their bodies," Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett with Boston Medical Center said.