Burlington Coronavirus Cases Fall, But Town Remains Moderate-Risk

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington is still considered a moderate-risk community, according to weekly state data released Wednesday, but its coronavirus case rate fell.

Sixty-three communities across the commonwealth were designated high-risk, up 23 from last week. Burlington moved away from the high-risk threshold, reporting 5.9 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, down from 7.5 last week, according to state data.

Towns were marked high-risk, or red, if they reported more than eight confirmed COVID-19 cases per day per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. State officials have said that high-risk communities, along with those considered high-risk in the past two updates, cannot move on to the next phase of reopening.

Burlington's percent positivity is 1.25 percent, down from last week's 1.73 percent. Statewide, the positive test rate rose to 1.3 percent, up from 0.8 percent in mid-September.

The state reported 518 confirmed cases and 16 deaths associated with the virus across the state, Wednesday. There have been 9,429 deaths and 138,083 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

In Burlington, 337 people have tested positive for the virus since March. There have been 23 cases in the last two weeks.

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.

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.