BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts public health officials now say three state residents have died of the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis virus, not four as they previously reported.
The state Department of Public Health said in a statement Thursday that reports of a fourth death were “based on an incorrect report filed by a hospital.”
The hospital was not named in the statement.
The department did, however, confirm the state’s 12th human case of the virus, a woman in her 70s from Hampden County.
The latest confirmed case prompted the risk level in Agawam, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Southwick, Springfield, West Springfield, and Westfield to be elevated to high.
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