Tewksbury Designated High-Risk Community With 51 Cases In 2 Weeks

TEWKSBURY, MA — Tewksbury was designated a high-risk community for the first time in the weekly state data released Thursday. The town's positive test rate over the last two weeks was 1.46 percent, up from 0.88 percent last week.

The town had 51 cases over the last two weeks, according to the state data.

The town is among 121 communities across the commonwealth that were designated high-risk, Thursday, up from 77 last week. Tewksbury had an average daily rate of 11.8 cases per 100,000, up from 5.7 last week.

>>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 Tewksbury, over 700 people have tested positive for the virus since March. That includes 51 cases over the last two weeks. Seventy-eight residents have died.

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