MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: 63 High-Risk Communities

MASSACHUSETTS — Sixty-three communities were designated high risk for the coronavirus in the new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday, up from 40 the week before. The state as a whole also crossed the high-risk threshold, reporting over eight average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks.

Positive test rates rose in nearly half of the state's 351 communities.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 168 — or 47.9 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 80 — or 22.8 percent — communities and held steady in the remaining 103.

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 average daily confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks.

Statewide, there were 8.7 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, putting the state above the high-risk threshold for the first time since the metric was introduced.

With Wednesday's update, Wrentham cleared the required three weeks without being marked high risk and can move forward. A number of other communities were not red Wednesday, but remain barred from reopening due to being high risk more recently.

The following 24 communities were added to the list Wednesday: Abington, Auburn, Berkley, Canton, East Bridgewater, East Longmeadow, Fairhaven, Fall River, Hanover, Hanson, Hingham, Hollbrook, Littleton, Marshfield, Milford, Milton, Oxford, Pembroke, Rockland, Shrewsbury, Somerville, Wakefield, West Newbury, Weymouth.

The other 39 communities have been above the eight cases per 100,000 threshold in at least one of the last two weekly updates.

Statewide, the positive test rate rose to 1.3 percent, up from 0.8 percent in mid-September.

There were 518 new COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths reported Wednesday. There have been 9,429 deaths and 138,083 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

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. Just two towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent over the last two weeks: Lawrence and Middleton.

Fifty communities had positive rates between 2 and 5 percent.

The state reported 13,057 new people tested Wednesday, bringing the number of people tested to nearly 2.5 million.

The data includes coronavirus cases for all Massachusetts communities, except for those with populations under 50,000 and fewer than five cases. The department said the stipulation was designed to protect the privacy of patients in those towns and cities.

The state is continuing to release town-by-town testing data, including the number of people tested, the testing rate, the positive test rate, cases and infection rates.

Don't miss updates about precautions in your area as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

How to use this map: Zoom in on the map below and click on a pin to see that community's coronavirus case data. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus data in the spreadsheet we used to create this map.

The map does not include 291 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Pin colors correspond to the state's risk classification color codes.