Hours after Gov. Charlie Baker cautioned against drawing conclusions from a five-day drop in new confirmed COVID-19 cases, that streak came to an end with the Department of Public Health's report of 1,745 new cases Wednesday, up from 1,556 on Tuesday.

The number of deaths newly reported Wednesday, 221, is the state's highest of any single day of the pandemic, bringing the state's fatality count to 2,182. Fifty-five percent of those deaths were in long-term care facilities.

Baker, in his daily briefing, said hospitalization rates are the "piece of data we watch most closely." As of Wednesday, 9 percent of the 42,944 confirmed COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, according to DPH data.

With schools to remain shuttered for the rest of the academic year, Baker and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders on Wednesday announced a new stipend, under a federally approved pilot program, for families to buy healthy foods while their students are unable to access free or reduced-price school lunches.

In a separate effort also aimed at helping struggling families, the Senate Ways and Means Committee began moving a bill that would ban the Department of Transitional Assistance from denying family or individual assistance under a pair of programs because "countable resources" exceed allowable limits.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reported that 17 percent of homeowners with mortgages and 35 percent of renters with cash rent are at risk of falling behind on their payments amid the economic turmoil brought on by the pandemic and related public health measures. Despite another month of rising sale prices in March, the housing market faces an uncertain future.

Despite the volatility, officials at the state pension fund are confident in their ability to pay out about $1.3 billion in pension benefits this year.