Marblehead Provides Additional Town Coronavirus Data Amid Spike

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead Health Department began providing more detailed information in its weekly coronavirus case reports after a sudden surge in cases in the past two weeks.

The town, consistently reported case levels of five or less going all the way back into the summer, saw a jump to 36 active cases this week.

"Given the sudden spike in cases in town, and interest in the community on the demographics of these cases, the Health Department will be providing additional links to dashboards etc. in our next case report on Friday," the Health Department said.

"We understand that people want information, and we will do our best to provide what we can, while maintaining health privacy and allowing health department staff to focus their energies on the important task of contact tracing and other crucial front line activities," officials said.

According to the new dashboard, those in the 20-29 and 50-59 age groups accounted for the highest rates with those 20-29 accounting to 15 cases and those 50-59 accounting for 14 cases over the two-week period between Nov. 5 and Nov. 19.

There were four cases identified among those 19 years old and younger, seven cases among those 30-39, seven cases among those 40-49, six cases among those 60-69 and four cases among those 70-79.

Marblehead had 17.7 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the most recent state report, with a positive test rate of 2.55 percent.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 266 — or 75.8 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 36 — or 10.3 percent — communities and held
steady in the remaining 49.

Statewide, there were 29.7 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, up from 20.7 last week. The number of high-risk communities rose from 30 to 62.

Fifty-nine towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent over the last two weeks, up from 30 last week.

Over 160 communities had positive rates between 2 and 5 percent.

The state reported 92,139 new tests Friday, bringing the total number of tests to 7.6 million.

Related Patch Coverage: MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: High-Risk List Doubles