BOSTON (WHDH) - The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is making a change to the way it maps out high-risk areas for COVID-19 after some communities claimed outbreaks at certain facilities caused them to go into the red zone.
Beginning Thursday, state health officials will start designating the coronavirus clusters in locations such as jails, colleges, and nursing homes that have pushed communities into the high-risk zone.
Towns like Middleton and North Andover have complained that outbreaks at a local jail and a college were the reason they’re in the red, leaving them unable to progress to Step 2 of phase three of the state’s reopening plan.
“It is a little bit unfair, and I think that the numbers here are a little bit misleading,” one concerned resident said.
Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller says she expects the city’s risk level to increase to moderate on Thursday, with some positive cases coming from students at Boston College.
Communities with institutions that account for more than 30 percent of their total cases over two weeks will now get an asterisk on the state’s high-risk map; however, that asterisk will not change the community’s ability to move forward in the reopening plan.
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