Marlborough Reports 5 Coronavirus Deaths In One Week

MARLBOROUGH, MA — As coronavirus cases in Marlborough overall appear to be on the upswing, the city just had the deadliest recent week of the second surge.

Between Jan. 6 and Jan. 13, Marlborough recorded five new deaths, bringing the city's pandemic total to 89. That's the most number recorded in a single week since last spring. Marlborough has seen 17 deaths since the beginning of December, which is about 20 percent of the city's pandemic total.

Marlborough will almost certainly remain on the state's red "high risk" list when new data is released Thursday afternoon. City officials reported the number of new daily cases per 100,000 residents was more than 92 on Wednesday, and the citywide positive test rate was just under 10 percent.

Marlborough would have to drop below 10 cases per day per 100,000 people and a 5 percent positive test rate to be removed from the high-risk list.

December is now tied with April as the third-deadliest month of the pandemic with 10 deaths. May and June saw 27 and 17 deaths, respectively. Here's a look at how deaths have increased in Marlborough since the beginning of autumn:

• Dec. 30 — 82 deaths
• Dec. 23 — 80 deaths
• Dec. 9 to 16 — 76 deaths
• Oct. 14 to Dec. 2 — 72 deaths
• Oct. 7 — 70 deaths
• Sept. 16 to Sept. 30 — 69 deaths
• Sept. 9 — 68 deaths
• Sept. 2 — 66 deaths

The pandemic has been more deadly for older residents. The average age of people have died is 79. But at least one person between the age of 20 and 29 has died, and nine people between 50 and 59 have died, according to city health data.

Meanwhile, the average age of people contracting the virus is around 40. Of the approximately 3,400 cases recorded in Marlborough so far, about 600 have been in people age 19 or younger, and almost 1,200 have been in people between age 20 and age 39.