MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: Positive Test Rate Rises

MASSACHUSETTS — Massachusetts labeled 20 communities as high risk for the coronavirus Thursday in the latest town-by-town report from the Department of Public Health, up from 14 the week before.

The seven-day average positive test rate for the state rose to 1.93 percent, up from 1.79 percent a week prior. Statewide case counts, hospitalizations and deaths continued to fall.

The state reported 1,857 coronavirus cases, 27 deaths and 62,532 vaccine doses Thursday.

The latest report shows the number of residents who are fully vaccinated has risen to 997,000. Another 740,000 have received one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

Of the 3.2 million doses the state has received, 84.9 percent have been administered

The seven-day average number of hospitalized patients was 632, down from 694 a week prior. There were 164 patients in intensive care.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 125 — or 35.6 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 141 — or 40.2 percent — of communities and held steady in the remaining 85. Two-week confirmed case counts rose in 125 communities.

There were 19.5 average daily cases per 100,000 residents of the state over that period, down from 20.3 last week.

To date, there have been 574,135 cases and 16,426 deaths statewide since the pandemic began. Officials estimated there were 25,630 active cases as of Thursday.

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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 rose from six to 10. The highest rate, 7.69 percent, was reported by Chester.

The state reported 106,850 new tests Thursday, bringing the total to 17.7 million.

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.

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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 1,310 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.