19 Massachusetts communities at high risk for coronavirus, Revere and Brockton exit red zone

Several perpetually “red” cities are no longer at high-risk for coronavirus transmission as the list shrank to just 19 communities this week.

See the city and town stats.

Revere and Brockton, long two of the hardest-hit cities in the state, fell out of the high-risk red zone for coronavirus transmission this week. Chelsea, which exited the red zone last week for the first time since the state unveiled its color-coded risk assessment system last August, was also classified as “yellow” for moderate risk.

“We are encouraged by the trends we’re seeing in our data,” Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo told the Herald, adding that it’s “excellent timing as our students begin to return to in-person learning and we need the whole community to help us keep our schools and businesses open through the spring.”

Still, “we are asking everyone to remain vigilant,” Arrigo said.

In all just 19 cities and towns are on the high-risk list this week, according to weekly data published by the Department of Public Health. That’s down from 28 last week and continues a significant decline from a peak of 229 in January at the height of the post-holiday surge in cases.

“We’re in a very different place now than we were then,” Gov. Charlie Baker said in a press conference in Lawrence on Thursday, noting that the state’s seen “tremendous drops in our positive test rate, tremendous drops in our hospitalizations, tremendous drops in our case counts.”

It’s also the lowest number of high-risk cities and towns since just 16 were on the list after the state revamped its metrics in early November.

Blackstone, Chicopee, Clinton, Fall River, Freetown, Hadley, Haverhill, Lawrence, Ludlow, Lynn, Methuen, New Bedford, Peabody, Plainville, Springfield, Sterling, Sutton, West Bridgewater and Weymouth are all in the red zone.

Clinton, Hadley, Ludlow, Plainville, Sterling and Sutton are new additions.

Acushnet, Ashburnham, Brockton, Cohasset, Lakeville, Lowell, Middleboro, Plymouth, Revere, Rutland, Southampton, Southbridge, Taunton, Templeton and Westminster all dropped off the high-risk list this week.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/38ae9Vp