Woburn Stays High-Risk With No Change In Positive Test Rates

WOBURN, MA — Woburn is still considered a high-risk community, according to weekly state data released Thursday. The town's positive test rate over the last two weeks barely budged, rising from 2.14 percent to 2.19 percent.

The city is among 77 communities across the commonwealth that were designated high-risk, Thursday, up from 63 from last week. Woburn stayed in the red zone with an average daily rate of 10.7 cases per 100,000, down from 10.8 last week, according to state data. It was first designated a high-risk community two weeks ago.

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.

Statewide, the positive test rate rose to 1.4 percent, the highest level since mid-August and up from 0.8 percent in mid-September.

The state reported 986 confirmed cases and 30 deaths associated with the virus across the state, Thursday. There have been 9,589 deaths and 143,927 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

In Woburn, 869 people have tested positive for the virus since March. That includes 62 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 9 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, keeping the state above the high-risk threshold for the second week in a row.

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