Coronavirus Hot Spots: Cities and Towns in Mass. With High Rates of Positive Tests

Massachusetts has released its latest weekly data on the coronavirus pandemic, including an updated version of the state's new community-level risk assessment map.

The data, from the Department of Public Health, includes a breakdown of the total number of coronavirus cases in each Massachusetts city and town, as well as the new map.

The data provided by the state in its weekly report on COVID-19 has changed as the pandemic has dragged on. Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said earlier this month that her agency recognizes that it's necessary to change what data the state reports as it moves into different phases of outbreak.

Recent Coronavirus Tests Returning Positive

Among cities and towns with at least 15 new cases in the last two weeks, these 25 communities have the highest percentages of positive cases in that time period:

Community	Number of cases	Cases in the last 14 days	Average daily incidence rate per 100,000 in the last 14 days	Total tests in the last 14 days	Positive tests in the last 14 days	Percent positivity in the last 14 days
Lynn	4,334	334	23.6	5,569	395	7.09%
Revere	2,183	161	18.9	3,890	210	5.40%
Chelsea	3,223	126	23.9	3,010	149	4.95%
Everett	1,963	75	11	2,081	89	4.28%
Salem	747	66	10.5	1,913	74	3.87%
Winthrop	347	30	11.4	922	35	3.80%
South Hadley	203	28	11.1	861	32	3.72%
Saugus	630	36	9	1,140	41	3.60%
Brockton	4,533	117	8.5	4,125	145	3.52%
Lawrence	3,941	106	8.6	4,761	136	2.86%
New Bedford	2,330	70	5	3,393	89	2.62%
Fall River	1,873	74	5.9	3,619	93	2.57%
North Attleborough	294	17	4	861	22	2.56%
Holyoke	1,047	41	7.1	1,927	46	2.39%
Fitchburg	846	27	4.6	1,387	33	2.38%
Springfield	3,175	99	4.5	5,575	128	2.30%
Marlborough	1,087	37	6.1	2,035	45	2.21%
Peabody	1,104	39	5	2,364	52	2.20%
Canton	329	17	5.3	1,055	23	2.18%
Stoughton	633	18	4.6	992	21	2.12%
Boston	15,640	627	6.4	35,705	744	2.08%
Malden	1,359	40	4.2	2,427	50	2.06%
Framingham	1,897	62	5.9	3,418	67	1.96%
Attleboro	717	20	3.1	1,294	25	1.93%
Quincy	1,328	52	3.7	3,735	72	1.93%

Data from between Aug. 5, 2020, and Aug. 19, 2020, omitting communities with under 15 new cases in that span. The state notes that previous reports were based on the number of people who tested positive, but this percentage is instead based on the total number of positive tests. Both tallies are listed in the chart above.

Lynn had the highest rate of positive tests among qualifying communities, as it did the last two weeks. Since last week, the city's rate improved slightly from 7.47% to 7.09%. Revere, which remained in second after last week, had an even smaller improvement in its rate, going from 5.5% to 5.4%. Chelsea had the third highest rate with 4.95%, an increase from 4.52% last week.

The state's overall rate of positive tests has fluctuated. In the last 14 days, 1.5% of tests in Massachusetts came back positive. The rate of recent positive tests was 1.75% on Aug. 12, 1.82% on Aug. 5, 1.74% on July 29, 1.67% on July 22 and 1.91% on July 15.

Take a closer look at last week's list.

Community Risk Assessment

Last week, Gov. Charlie Baker revealed this new metric for understanding how much the virus has spread locally.

It shows the number of cases detected on average each day over the last two weeks in each of Massachusetts' communities. More than 8 cases per 100,000 translates to a high risk, between 4 and 8 cases per 100,000 is moderate risk, and any less than that is low risk, Baker said.

Mass. Department of Public Health

Cities and towns shaded red have the greatest risk levels. There are 10 in this map, down from 11 in last week's map, which included data from July 22 to Aug. 5.

The high-risk communities in Wednesday's report are Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence, Lynn, Revere, Salem, Saugus, South Hadley and Winthrop. All of them appear on the list of communities above ranked by percent positivity.