MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: 19 High-Risk Communities

MASSACHUSETTS — Just 19 Massachusetts cities and towns were labeled high-risk for the coronavirus Thursday in the latest town-by-town report from the Department of Public Health.

Last week, the report labeled 28 communities at high risk, or red. This week, the only communities on the list were Blackstone, Chicopee, Clinton, Fall River, Freetown, Hadley, Haverhill, Lawrence, Ludlow, Lynn, Methuen, New Bedford, Peabody, Plainville, Springfield, Sterling, Sutton, West Bridgewater and Weymouth.

The majority of communities, 179, were labeled medium risk, or yellow. The remainder were marked grey or green, the lowest levels.

Massachusetts reported 1,410 coronavirus cases and 42 deaths Thursday.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 201 — or 57.3 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 84 — or 23.9 percent — of communities and held steady in the remaining 66. Two-week confirmed case counts fell in 203 communities and rose in 102.

There were 21.3 average daily cases per 100,000 residents of the state over that period, down from 23.3 last week.

To date, there have been 554,630 cases and 15,967 deaths statewide since the pandemic began. Officials estimated that there were 27,763 active cases as of Thursday.

Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch.

Health officials say positive coronavirus test results need to stay below 5 percent for two weeks or longer and, preferably, be closer to 2 percent, for states to safely ease restrictions. The number of communities reporting rates above 5 percent fell to 8: Avon, Chicopee, Clinton, Eastham, Lawrence, Ludlow, Middlefield and Plympton.

Last week there were 23 communities with rates above 5 percent.

The highest rate was reported by Middlefield, where 12.5 percent of tests came back positive. Over 160 cities and towns reported test rates below 2 percent.

The data includes coronavirus cases for all Massachusetts communities, except for those with populations under 50,000 and fewer than five cases. The department said the stipulation was designed to protect the privacy of patients in those towns and cities.

The state releases town-by-town testing data every Thursday, including the number of people tested, the testing rate, the positive test rate, cases and infection rates.

Don't miss updates about precautions in your area as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

How to use this map: Zoom in on the map below and click on a pin to see that community's coronavirus case data. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus data in the spreadsheet we used to create this map.

The map does not include 1,486 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Pin colors correspond to the state's risk designations. Red pins are high-risk, or red, communities. Yellow pins are medium risk, green pins low risk and grey pins at most 15 total cases for communities over 50,000 people and 10 for smaller communities.