WORCESTER, Mass. – COVID-19 infections are on the rise in Massachusetts and numbers from the state's Department of Public Health show a 35% increase in confirmed and probable cases in the past month.

In Worcester, UMass Memorial Health said the number of patients infected with COVID have gone up significantly, and the numbers are three times where they were when compared to June.

Dr. Richard Ellison said the hospital may have hit its peak at the beginning of August, but thankfully, the majority of patients infected are experiencing much milder symptoms.

"Bad news is that there are two effects to this one, people who are immunocompromised, or very elderly are still at risk of getting very severely ill,” said Ellison. “So that population we continue to worry about. We also worry about the impact of having lots of hospital employees who are coming down with this at the same time."

Earlier this month, the hospital asked all staff to start wearing masks again.

Ellison said other infectious diseases typically see cases rise in the winter, but COVID has had outbreaks the past few summers.