MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: Positive Rate Falls To 1.1%

MASSACHUSETTS — More than three-quarters of Massachusetts communities had falling or steady coronavirus rates over the last two weeks, according to new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday. But five towns were above the 5 percent threshold, one more than a week ago.

The seven-day statewide positive coronavirus test rate was 1.1 percent, the lowest level on record.

Statewide, there were 315 new COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths reported Wednesday. There have been 8,755 coronavirus-related deaths and 117,085 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

The state reported 19,744 tests conducted Wednesday, bringing the number of completed tests to 2.2 million.

The latest town-by-town data showed the positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 86 — or 25 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 139, or 40 percent, communities and held steady in the remaining 126.

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. Five towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent over the last two weeks: Chelsea, Lynn, Revere, Westhampton and Whately. Four towns were above 5 percent the previous week.

Twenty-five communities had positive rates between 2 and 5 percent.

The metric Gov. Charlie Baker has encouraged school districts to use as a guide to school reopening decisions, cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks, was also updated. Nine towns were marked red due to more than eight confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks: Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Framingham, Lawrence, Lynn, Revere, Sutton and Winthrop.

Last week, ten towns were red.

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.

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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 309 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Pin colors are based on change in the positivity rate relative to last week's data; towns with increases are red, towns with decreases are green, and those reporting no change are yellow.