Mass. Up to 77 Communities in Red – NBC Boston

Massachusetts’ latest weekly community-level data on the coronavirus epidemic, including an updated town-by-town risk assessment map, shows 77 communities considering the highest risk for transmitting COVID-19, a 14-rise increase from the previous week.

This week’s report by the Department of Public Health was revamped to include data on isolated outbreaks that required the release to be rolled back from Wednesday to Thursday. This is the first week of the new edition.

Last week, Massachusetts climbed to the highest risk level, looking at the statewide average of all communities.

Data from the Department of Public Health include the breakdown of the total number of coronovirus cases in each Massachusetts city and town, Plus new map and more data.

See Town-by-Town Mass. Coronavirus risk map

The following communities are in the highest risk level as of Wednesday: Abington, Acushnet, Ashland, Attleboro, Avon, Berklee, Bostan, Boxford, Brockton, Buckland, Canton, Chelmsford*, Chelsea, Chicopee, Clinton, East longitude, Everett, Fairhaven, Falling river, Framingham, Gloster, Hannover, Hanson, Haverhill, Hingham, Holliston, Holyoke, Hudson, Kintal, Lawrence, Leicester, Lovell, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Marlborough, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Methuen, MIDDLEBOROUGH, Middleton*, Milford, Millville, Milton*, Monson, New bedford, North andover*, Norwood, Oxford, Pembroke, Plemet, Randolph, Raynham, Revere, Rochester, Rockland, Saugus, Scituate, Seekonk, Shrewsbury, Inversion, Summerville, Springfield, Swampscott, TYNGSBOROUGH, Wakefield, Waltham, Webster, West bridgewater, West newbury, Westfield, Westport, Weymouth, Winthrop, Woburn, Worcester, And Wrentham.

Asterisks, new to the state’s new community-level coronovirus risk processing, mean that a local institution is responsible for at least 11 cases in the community and in those cases 30% or more of the community’s total cases in the last two weeks Is part.

These 23 communities are new to the list since last week: Ashland, Avon, Boxford, Buckland, Chocopy, Clinton, Gloucester, Lynnfield, Mattaporbet, Middleboro, Millville, Monson, Norwood, Rehn, Rochester, Skitt, Seaconket, Somerset, Swampscott, West Bridgewater, Westfield, Westport and Rentham.

And Amherst, Auburn, Dartmouth, East Bridgewater, Holbrook, Littleton, Nanket, Southborough and Sunderland have dropped the highest risk levels since last week.

Public Health Engineering Department

The map shows the number of cases found in each community in Massachusetts on average each day over the past two weeks. Over 8 cases per 100,000 turn into high risk and red shading, between 4 and 8 cases per 100,000 have a moderate risk and any lower risk is lower.

The map has 77 cities and towns in red, an increase of 22% from the previous week’s map. There were 63 communities on that map, including figures for October 27 – October. 10, an increase of 23 communities from the week before.

The state average entered the red zone last week, with the average incidence rate climbing to 8.7 cases per 100,000 people. This week the rate was up to 9.2.

Read this week’s full report here, which includes data on the percentage positivity of communities, county- and state-level data and more.

This week’s report by the Department of Public Health was revamped to include data on isolated outbreaks that required the release to be rolled back from Wednesday to Thursday. This is the first week of the new edition.

Massachusetts Hot Spot Map Change

Massachusetts has changed how coronovirus metrics are measured over time and brought a significant improvement this week that may address the concerns of some small communities.

Thursday’s report for the first time includes coronovirus clusters in institutions such as prisons, colleges and nursing homes. Such outbreaks have pushed communities into that red zone first.

The state’s COVID-19 Response Command Center said in a statement, “Adding this identity acknowledges the impact of a particular institution or facility on the community’s case count and provides valuable information to residents and municipal leaders. ” Week.

According to the command center, the asterisk will not change whether a city or town can move forward or backward in Massachusetts’ reopening plan. The asterisk does not change the red or yellow position.

Massachusetts Society President Dr. “It matters that there is a cluster anywhere because the cluster is an opportunity to spread the disease,” said David Rosman.

Rosman says that just because the college campus has a cluster, for example, does not mean the rest of the community is clear.

“Young adults in a college setting can go to local stores, go to local restaurants, and so their presence in the city matters, it really matters, because no one has them on their campus, “Dr. Rosman said.

“Even though it is a cluster, it can expose others from the same city,” Dr. Said Vibha Sharma, who is a specialist in infectious diseases at UMass Memorial Marlborough Hospital.

Color-coded city-by-city data was introduced in August, and the Baker administration announced that the state would focus its strongest COVID-mitigation efforts on cities in the red category. Communities may only move to Phase 2 of Phase 3 of Massachusetts, announced in late September, if they are not consistently red.

Prior to the introduction of the map, positive COVID test rates prior to 14 days were the standard for measuring hot spots. The Public Health Department’s weekly report still contains information about how many tests are being conducted locally and how many cases have been reported locally, along with other metrics.

However, some small towns in Massachusetts have taken issue with being classified on a per capita basis.

They have stated that, when a city has only a few thousand people, its infestation in only one house can send it in red, which is determined by 8 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Asked first why he prefers using per capita cases rather than percentage positivity, Charlie Baker said some people are tested repeatedly.

“There are a lot of repeat testers in our data, many of whom are repeating work-related reasons,” Baker said.