MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: Statewide Test Rate Hits 2%

MASSACHUSETTS — Massachusetts designated just 16 communities as high-risk for the coronavirus in the latest town-by-town data released Friday. The state introduced new, stricter metrics for the high-risk designation, removing over 100 cities and towns from the category.

Under the old metrics, 155 communities would have been labeled high-risk, up from 121 last week.

More than half of the state's cities and towns reported rising positive test rates. The statewide positive test rate rose to 2.1 percent, the highest level since the beginning of August.

There were 2,038 new COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths reported Friday. The state had not reported more than 2,000 cases in a single day since May 1. There have been 9,880 deaths and 162,736 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

Read more on the new metrics: In Push To Get Kids In Class, MA Changes Coronavirus Map

The following sixteen communities were designated high-risk: Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Methuen, New Bedford, Norfolk, Revere, Seekonk, Somerset, Springfield and Westport. There were 79 green, 91 yellow and 165 gray (lowest-risk) communities.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 176 — or 50.1 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 77 — or 21.9 percent — communities and held steady in the remaining 98.

Statewide, there were 15.3 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, up from 11.8 last week.

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. Seventeen towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent over the last two weeks, up from just 11 last week: Blandford, Buckland, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Lawrence, Lynn, New Ashford, New Bedford, Norfolk, Revere, Richmond, Rowe, Seekonk, Somerset and Westport.

Over 100 communities had positive rates between 2 and 5 percent.

The state reported 86,357 new tests Friday, bringing the total number of tests to 6.5 million.

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 333 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Pin colors correspond to changes in positive test rates: cities and towns with rising test rates are marked red, those with falling test rates are marked green and those with level test rates are yellow.