Belmont Coronavirus Case Numbers Decrease, 7 New Cases

BELMONT, MA — The number of COVID-19 cases in Belmont decreased over the last two weeks, keeping the town on the state designated "low risk" community list. Belmont is going against the grain after the state as a whole also crossed the high-risk threshold, reporting over eight average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks.

Belmont had seven new COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, bringing the town's total case count to 275. The town is still considered a 'low risk' community for COVID-19 since its average daily incidence rate is 1.8 cases for every 100,000 residents.

In the last two weeks, Belmont tested 3,091 people, bringing its total testing number to 16,136. The town's percent positive rate over the last two weeks lowered to o.23 percent. Health officials say positive 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.

State rules mean that high-risk communities, plus others that were high-risk in the last two updates, cannot move on to the next phase of reopening. Sixty-three communities were designated high-risk in the new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday.

View the state's interactive COVID-19 map.