Salem Coronavirus Case Count Trends In Good Direction

SALEM, MA — Salem saw a decrease in its coronavirus case count for the second straight week — two weeks after it was designated a "red" hot spot community in the state — as virus numbers improved in the city.

Salem had a 1.3 percent positive-test rate, according to the numbers released on state Department of Public Health's interactive map released on Wednesday. That's down significantly from the 3.87 rate on Aug. 16.

The rate of positive cases per 100,000 residents — the metric the state uses to determine level of coronavirus in a given community — was 4.92 after being 6.5 last week and 10.5 when Salem was designated a "red" community two weeks ago.

The drop is welcome news as the city welcomes back Salem State college students on campus this week for the first time since the campus went to online classes at the start of the health crisis in March.

About a third of Massachusetts communities had their positive coronavirus test rates increase over the last two weeks, according to new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday. The latest town-by-town data showed the positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 100— or 28 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 118, or 34 percent, communities and held steady in the remaining 133.

View the state's interactive map here.

(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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