Peabody Coronavirus Cases Finally Take Big Tumble

PEABODY, MA — After months of coronavirus case counts that were higher than most of its North Shore neighbors, Peabody finally saw its metrics drop significantly in this week's state report.

The city, which was still designated at "high risk" for community virus spread, according to state metrics, as of last week dropped comfortably into the "moderate risk" category this week.

Peabody reported 23.4 cases per 100,000 people and a positive test rate of 3.34 percent in this week's town-by-town report. Those numbers are down from last week's report when the city had a 14-day rolling average of 31.5 cases per 100,000 residents with a positive test rate of 4.3 percent.

Peabody had 204 new positive cases over 14 days this week compared to 274 cases last week — a decrease of 25.5 percent.

The statewide positive test rate as Thursday was 1.63 percent.

Peabody ran two additional testing dates at Higgins Middle School in April and is participating in the North Shore Coalition for a Safe Summer with nine other are cities and towns to promote vaccination efforts.

As of Tuesday, Peabody reported 19,557 out of 55,967 residents fully vaccinated with an additional 7,878 having received at least a first dose.

"We're not at the levels yet where we hope to be where we have broad community immunity," Peabody Board of Health Director Sharon Cameron told Patch this week. "We're looking to build people's confidence to want to receive the vaccine."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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