North Andover Officials Ask Governor To Let Town Reopen Further

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover officials asked Gov. Charlie Baker to change state metrics for the next phase of reopening, in a letter published Tuesday.

The town was classified as a high-risk community, Sept. 30, due to a case outbreak at Merrimack College's Monican Hall. Towns must go three weeks without being designated high-risk in order to advance with reopening.

The town had over 100 cases at the height of the outbreak, but was down to 52, as of Monday. Only 19 active cases were not connected to the college.

>>North Andover Deemed High-Risk Community In Latest COVID-19 Map

In the letter, the Board of Selectmen made the case that the town has not had any community spread from the college outbreak and should be allowed to move forward. According to the Board, 43 of the town's businesses are affected by the town being barred from reopening further.

Without the college cases, the town notes, it would have an incident rate of 3.8 cases per 100,000 — far below the eight per 100,000 residents threshold for the high-risk, or red, designation.

"We respectfully request that you reconsider using the "red" classification as the metric for moving to Phase 3 Step 2, and consider carving obvious clusters in universities and colleges out of Town numbers moving forward," the Board wrote.

The Board notes that while Merrimack College's address, and thus its official case numbers, are in North Andover, Monican Hall is actually in Andover. The selectmen also refer to the impact the Columbia Gas explosions had on the town's businesses.

As of Monday, the town had 52 active cases, 463 recoveries and 44 deaths. The town reported over 90 recoveries, and 54 new cases, over the prior week.

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