Stoneham Coronavirus Rate Drops, No Change In Risk Level

STONEHAM, MA — Stoneham is still considered a moderate-risk community, according to weekly state data released Thursday. But the city's case count and positive test rates have fallen, with 19 confirmed cases over the last two weeks.

Seventy-seven communities across the Commonwealth were labeled high risk, or "red," Thursday, up from 63 from last week. Stoneham stayed in the "yellow" range with an average daily rate of 6.1 cases per 100,000, down from 6.73 last week, according to state data.

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. In Stoneham, the positive rate held steady at 1 percent.

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.

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

In Stoneham, 479 people have tested positive for the virus during that time.

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.

View the state's interactive COVID-19 map.