Medford Joins List Of High-Risk Communities

MEDFORD, MA — The state designated Medford a high-risk community for the first time in its weekly report Thursday. The city's positive coronavirus test rate over the last two weeks was 0.58 percent, down from 1 percent last week.

Medford had 70 cases over the last two weeks, according to the state data.

Medford is among 121 communities across the Commonwealth that were designated high risk Thursday, up from 77 last week. The city had an average daily rate of 8.22 cases per 100,000, up from 7.5 last week.

>>MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: High-Risk List Soars To 121

State officials have said that high-risk communities cannot move on to the next phase of reopening. Towns that spend three consecutive weeks at the high-risk level also must revert to the previous step. The high risk, or red, designation is given to towns that 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 1.8 percent, more than double the September low of 0.8 percent. There were 11.8 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, keeping the state above the high-risk threshold.

There were 1,243 new COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths reported Thursday. There have been 9,727 deaths and 151,741 confirmed cases statewide since the pandemic reached the Bay State in March.

In Medford, 1,376 people have tested positive for the virus since March.

View the state's color-coded map here.