Woburn Coronavirus Numbers Continue Rise, City Remains High-Risk

WOBURN, MA — Woburn is still considered a high-risk community, according to weekly state data released Wednesday.

The city is among 63 communities across the commonwealth that has been designated high-risk, up 23 from last week. Woburn stayed in the red zone with an average daily rate of 10.8 cases per 100,000, up from 9.1 last week, according to state data. It was first designated a high-risk communitylast week.

State officials have said that high-risk communities, along with those considered high-risk in the past two updates, cannot move on to the next phase of reopening. Towns were 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.

Woburn's percent positivity is 2.14 percent, slightly up from last week's 2.03 percent. Statewide, the positive test rate rose to 1.3 percent, up from 0.8 percent in mid-September.

The state reported 518 confirmed cases and 16 deaths associated with the virus across the state, Wednesday. There have been 9,429 deaths and 138,083 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

In Woburn, 840 people have tested positive for the virus since March. That includes 63 cases over the last two weeks.

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.

Statewide, there were 8.7 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, putting the state above the high-risk threshold for the first time since the metric was introduced.

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