Burlington Positive Rate Falls To 6.5%, Town Remains High Risk

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington's two-week average positive test rate fell nearly a percentage point over the last week, dropping to 6.5 percent, just above the high-risk threshold, the Massachusetts Department of Health reported.

According to the town-by-town data released Thursday, the town had 228 cases in that period, down from 260 last week.

The town has had 1,354 cumulative cases, the state reported.

>>MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: High-Risk List Shrinks By 7

The Massachusetts Department of Health designated 222 cities and towns as high risk for the coronavirus in the latest community-level report Thursday, reducing the number of communities on the list for the first time in months.

The seven-day average positive test rate for the state fell to 5.65 percent, the lowest level since November. Statewide case counts, hospitalizations and deaths all fell on average over the last week as well, although all measures remained far above the lows over the summer.

Massachusetts expanded vaccine eligibility to all of phase one Thursday, which includes home-based health care workers and health workers not involved in pandemic response.

The state is also lifting certain business restrictions, Baker said Thursday.
Beginning Monday, the state will lift its stay-at-home advisory and an order requiring most businesses to close by 9:30 p.m., the beginning of what might be a slow return to some semblance of normalcy for businesses. But the 25 percent capacity limit for most businesses will be in place at least another two weeks.

While COVID-19 numbers have improved in recent weeks, they are still significantly higher than when the stay-at-home advisory was instituted in the late fall. In early November, the positive test rate was below 3 percent; there were fewer than 2,000 new daily cases on average and about 20 average daily deaths.

There were 3,811 coronavirus tests conducted in Burlington in the last two weeks, of which 249 were positive, for a 6.5 percent positive rate. Last week, the two-week average was 7.5 percent.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.