Chelmsford Coronavirus Numbers Rise Above 500

CHELMSFORD, MA — Chelmsford is still considered a high-risk town, according to weekly state data released Wednesday.

The town is among 63 communities across the commonwealth that has been designated high-risk, up 23 from last week. Chelmsford stayed in the red zone with an average rate of 11.5 cases per 100,000, up from 8.9 last week and 5.76 the week before, according to state data. It was first designated a high risk town last 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 100,000 residents over the past two weeks.

Chelmsford's percent positivity is 2.22 percent, slightly up from last week's 2.21 percent. In Lowell, also considered high risk, has a percent positivity of 3.29 percent, slightly down from where it was last week. In Westford, where the risk is moderate, it's 1.46 percent. Statewide, the positive test rate rose to 1.3 percent, up from 0.8 percent in mid-September.

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

In Chelmsford, 502 people have tested positive for the virus since March.

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.