Beverly Coronavirus Rates Stable In Latest State Report

BEVERLY, MA — Coronavirus cases have stabilized in Beverly recently after dropping dramatically from the holiday surge.

Beverly is designated a "yellow" moderate-risk city for community spread in the latest state report released Thursday.

The city reported 167 new cases over the past 14 days with a positive test rate of 1.6 percent. The state's positive test rate as of Thursday was 1.77 percent — down from a high of 8.6 percent in early January.

Beverly's test rate is down slightly from 1.66 percent last week. The city's cases per 100,000 residents this week were 25.7 — slightly up from 24.5 last week.

Nineteen cities and towns remain at "high risk" for community spread. The majority of communities in the state, 179, were labeled medium risk, or yellow. The remainder were marked grey or green, the lowest levels.

Massachusetts reported 1,410 coronavirus cases and 42 deaths Thursday.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks fell in 201 — or 57.3 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate rose in 84 — or 23.9 percent — of communities and held steady in the remaining 66.

Two-week confirmed case counts fell in 203 communities and rose in 102.

There were 21.3 average daily cases per 100,000 residents of the state over that period, down from 23.3 last week.

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(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.)