Braintree Coronavirus Rate Rises, Town Teeters Near High Risk

BRAINTREE, MA — Seventy-seven Massachusetts communities were designated high-risk in the new town-by-town data released by the state Thursday. Braintree wasn't one of those communities, but the town did come close to the high risk designation after rising cases and positive test rates.

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. Towns were marked high-risk, or red, if they reported more than eight confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks.

Those 77 communities kept the state's own coronavirus threat to red as a whole for a second straight week The state has reported over eight average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks.

The state kept Braintree's coronavirus threat at the"yellow" community designation, meaning it averaged between four and eight cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks. Braintree averaged eight new daily cases per 100,000 residents.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 130 — or 37 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 90 — or 25.6 percent — communities and held steady in the remaining 131.

Braintree's case count over the last 14 days was 54, bringing the total number of cases to 974, according to state data. The town has conducted 3,460 tests over the past two weeks, 56 of which came back positive. There have been 22,967 tests conducted overall in Braintree.

The town's percent positive rate over the last two weeks rose to 1.62 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.

View the state's interactive COVID-19 map.