MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: Statewide Rate Falls Below 1%

MASSACHUSETTS — More Massachusetts communities reported rising positive coronavirus test rates over the last two weeks than falling rates, according to new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday. But the statewide rate continues to fall, dropping to a new low of 0.8 percent.

Seven towns reported positive rates over 5 percent, up from five on Sept. 2.

Statewide, there were 182 new COVID-19 cases and 4 deaths reported Wednesday. There have been 8,937 coronavirus-related deaths and 121,396 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

The state reported 11,350 tests conducted Wednesday, bringing the number of completed tests to 2.8 million.

The latest town-by-town data showed the positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 105— or 29.9 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 103 — or 29.3 percent — communities and held steady in the remaining 143.

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. Seven towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent over the last two weeks: Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence, Monroe, Montgomery, Revere and Westhampton.

Twenty-eight 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. Thirteen towns were marked red due to more than eight confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks: Chatham, Chelsea, Dedham, Everett, Framingham, Lawrence, Lynn, Lynnfield, Methuen, Monson, New Bedford, Revere and Winthrop.

Last week, eight 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.

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.

The map does not include 372 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.