Peabody At Brink Of High-Risk Coronavirus Community Spread

PEABODY, MA — Peabody's number of coronavirus pushed closer to the threshold where in-person schools and business reopenings are in jeopardy, according to the weekly state report.

Peabody's rate of cases per 100,000 people — the metric the state uses to determine community spread and whether communities are eligible to move forward or must pull back in the state's phased-in reopening process — rose from 6.4 to 7.7 in this week's report. The rate was 5.1 cases per 100,000 people two weeks ago.

The city remains in the "yellow" caution category for community spread. The threshold for becoming a "red" high-risk community is 8.0 cases per 100,000 people.

There were 60 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the city over the past 14 days. The city's test-positive rate was 1.79 percent.

The state as a whole also remained above the high-risk threshold. Seventy-seven communities — including Swampscott — were designated "high-risk" communities in the latest state report.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 130 — or 37.0 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 90 — or 25.6 percent — communities and held steady in the remaining 131.

State rules mean that high-risk communities, plus others that were high risk in the last two updates, cannot move on to the next phase of reopening. Towns were marked high risk, or red, if they reported more than eight average daily confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks.

The full list of town-by-town data can be found here.

More Peabody Patch Coverage: Peabody Coronavirus Numbers On 'Disappointing' Rise

MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: High-Risk List Keeps Growing

'Yellow' Designation Means Caution In Peabody's Coronavirus Fight