Dedham Deemed 'Moderate Risk' As Coronavirus Numbers Decrease

DEDHAM, MA — Dedham has moved out of the state designated red zone for COVID-19 cases and is now a yellow community, or considered at "moderate risk."

Dedham is one of three communities in the state that cleared the required three weeks without being marked high-risk and has seen its COVID-19 case count decrease. Dedham has a total case count of 527 positive cases with 19 positive cases appearing in the last two weeks. The town has tested 2,714 people in the last 14 days and conducted 16,470 tests in total.

The moderate risk designation means that Dedham has reported between four and eight positive cases per every 100,000 residents. The town was previously considered high risk, with more than eight cases per every 100,000 residents.

Dedham was pushed into the red zone early in September, just before the start of school after a series of high school parties spurred a COVID-19 cluster in town. The cluster was responsible for 26 new positive cases in Dedham. The cluster not only elevated the town's risk level but forced the school district to postpone in-person learning.

In the wake of the case rise, Dedham Public Schools Superintendent Michael Walsh called the incident "A wake-up call for the community."

The elevated designation allowed the town to access support from the state for expanded testing and a temporary testing site was opened for several days at Dedham's Endicott Estate.

In order for Dedham to move into the state designated green zone, it needs to have less than four positive cases of the virus per every 100,000 residents.