BOSTON (WHDH) – The Massachusetts Department of Public Health released an updated list Friday detailing the number of coronavirus cases in cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
In an attempt to guide schools and businesses through the state’s phased reopening plan, the colors were previously based on an area’s average virus rate out of 100,000 people.
However, many communities across the Bay State do not reach the 100,000 resident threshold. This prompted health officials to revamp the color-coding system last week based on population size and positivity rate.
The statewide average daily case rate is in the yellow zone this week at 34.9 per 100,000 residents with 34,070 new cases reported in the last 14 days.
Eighty-one cities and towns now fall in the Department of Public Health’s highest-risk category for COVID-19 transmission under the state’s new guidelines. Up from the 62 that were reported last week.
The high-risk communities include:
- Attleboro
- Barnstable
- Bellingham
- Berkley
- Blackstone
- Boxford
- Brockton
- Chelmsford
- Chelsea
- Chicopee
- Clinton
- Dartmouth
- Dighton
- Douglas
- Dracut
- East Longmeadow
- Edgartown
- Everett
- Fairhaven
- Fall River
- Fitchburg
- Framingham
- Freetown
- Gardner
- Georgetown
- Hampden
- Haverhill
- Holyoke
- Hopedale
- Lancaster
- Lawrence
- Leicester
- Lenox
- Leominster
- Littleton
- Lowell
- Ludlow
- Lunenberg
- Lynn
- Malden
- Marion
- Mendon
- Merrimac
- Methuen
- Middleton
- Milford
- Millbury
- Monson
- New Bedford
- Norfolk
- Oak Bluffs
- Paxton
- Peabody
- Rehoboth
- Revere
- Rutland
- Salisbury
- Saugus
- Seekonk
- Shirley
- Somerset
- Southbridge
- Southwick
- Springfield
- Sterling
- Sutton
- Swansea
- Taunton
- Templeton
- Tisbury
- Tyngsboro
- Upton
- Uxbridge
- West Boylston
- West Bridgewater
- West Springfield
- Westminster
- Westport
- Whitman
- Winchendon
- Woburn
Abington, Acushnet, Nantucket, Northbridge, Rockland and Townsend have all been downgraded out of the red zone.
The Department of Public Health has begun releasing information on the number of cases and contacts associated with clusters of infection in certain settings including households, organized sports, retail settings and social gatherings.
The average age of COVID-19 patients is 39-years old according to the report with the 20 to 29-year-old age range reporting the highest amount of cases.
Since last week, 699 more college students have tested positive bringing the total number of cases associated with higher education to 3,982.
Below is a full town-by-town breakdown where data for all 351 communities is included.
[scribd id=486104089 key=key-8rzvbf5uTHUJ8kGl1Aso mode=scroll]
The report states that 115,755 people have completed their quarantine to date and 10,987 are still undergoing theirs.
Click here for more coronavirus coverage.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)