Latest Town-By-Town Coronavirus Cases In Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS — Roughly a third of of the state's communities had fewer coronavirus cases than last week, while a quarter had more cases, according to updated town-by-town coronavirus data from the state Department of Public Health. The remainder of states reported no change.

Statewide, there were 165 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths reported Wednesday. Since the first reported death March 20, there have been 8,231 coronavirus-related deaths in the state.

The data shows the positive case count over the last two weeks increased in 90, or 25.7 percent, of the 351 Massachusetts communities. The count declined in 120 communities, or 34.3 percent.

The state conducted 7,821 tests Wednesday, bringing the number of completed tests to 1.35 million.

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 up social distancing restrictions. Eight towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent and 55 had positive rates between 2 and 5 percent.

The data also 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, or search for your town using this link.

The map does not include 272 of the state's 107,413 cases because state health officials could not determine which community the patients lived in.

Pin colors are based on the case count changes versus last week's data: towns with increases are red, towns with decreases are green and those reporting no change are yellow.