Burlington Remains Just Under High-Risk Threshold

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington remained a moderate-risk, or yellow, community in the weekly state data released Thursday. The town had 7.8 average daily cases per 100,000, just below the threshold of 8 to be marked high-risk.

The town's positive test rate over the last two weeks was 1.88 percent, up from 1.65 percent last week.

The town had 30 cases over the last two weeks, according to the state data.

Statewide, 121 communities were designated high-risk, Thursday, up from 77 last week. That includes Burlington's neighbors Wilmington, Woburn, Bedford and Billerica.

>>MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: High-Risk List Soars To 121

State officials have said that high-risk communities cannot move on to the next phase of reopening. Towns that spend three consecutive weeks at the high-risk level must revert back to the previous step. Towns are 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.

Statewide, the positive test rate rose to 1.8 percent, more than double the September low of 0.8 percent. There were 11.8 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, keeping the state above the high-risk threshold.

There were 1,243 new COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths reported Thursday. There have been 9,727 deaths and 151,741 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

In Burlington, 365 people have tested positive for the virus since March.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.