Woburn Coronavirus Rates Rise, City Upgraded To Red

WOBURN, MA — Forty communities were designated high-risk in the new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday, including Woburn. Schools will continue on their current course, the superintendent said, but potential further reopening city-wide will be delayed.

State rules mean that high-risk communities, plus others that were high-risk in the last two updates, cannot move on to the next phase of reopening. Towns were marked high-risk, or red, if they reported more than eight confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks.

The state upgraded Woburn's coronavirus threat level by deeming it a "red" community. The city averaged 9.1 new daily cases per 100,000 residents.

>>MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: 40 High-Risk Communities

Because of its new status, the city will delay indefinitely the next phase of reopening, the city said Wednesday. Public health officials plan to step up enforcement, including possible fines, for people and businesses that do not follow mandatory public health guidelines.

Superintendent Matthew Crowley said Wednesday that five Woburn Public Schools students have tested positive for the virus, but only one, a student at Joyce Middle School, had contact with others. That student's close contacts have been notified and are quarantining and receiving remote support, Crowley said.

According to a release from the city and school district, "the identification and notification of that student's close contacts was completed in a very timely manner."

"We are confident in our decision to continue our hybrid approach at this time, but we continue to monitor the situation closely and are following state guidelines that ask us to look at several weeks worth of data and indicators before making changes to the model," the superintendent said.

The latest data showed the positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 176 of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 68 communities and held steady in the remaining 148.

Woburn's case count over the last 14 days was 53, bringing the total number of cases to 812, according to state data. The city conducted 3008 tests over the past two weeks, 61 of which came back positive. There have been nearly 20,000 tests conducted overall in Woburn.

The town's percent positive rate over the last two weeks rose to 2.03 percent. Health officials say positive test results need to stay below 5 percent for two weeks or longer and, preferably, be closer to 2 percent, for states to safely ease restrictions.

View the state's interactive COVID-19 map.

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