MA Town-By-Town Numbers: Statewide Positive Rate Hits New Low

MASSACHUSETTS — Three-quarters of Massachusetts communities had falling or steady positive test rates over the last two weeks, according to new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday. The seven-day average statewide positive rate fell to its lowest level yet at 1.5 percent.

Statewide, there were 229 new COVID-19 cases and 18 deaths reported Wednesday. Since the first reported death March 20, there have been 8,547 coronavirus-related deaths and 113,198 confirmed cases in the state.

The state conducted 15,693 tests Wednesday, bringing the number of completed tests to 1.78 million.

The town-by-town data shows the positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 92 — or 26.2 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 138, or 39.8 percent, and held steady in the remaining 121.

The release also updates the metric Gov. Charlie Baker unveiled Tuesday to guide school reopening decisions: cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks. Eleven towns were marked red due to more than eight confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks: Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Granby, Holyoke, Hull, Lawrence, Lynn, Revere, Salem and Saugus.

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. Just four towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent over the last two weeks: Hancock, Lynn, Revere and Russell.

Forty-nine communities had positive rates between 2 and 5 percent.

The data includes coronavirus cases for all Massachusetts communities, except for those with populations under 50,000 and fewer than five cases. The department said the stipulation was designed to protect the privacy of patients in those towns and cities.

The state is continuing to release town-by-town testing data, including the number of people tested, the testing rate, the positive test rate, cases and infection rates.

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How to use this map: Zoom in on the map below and click on a pin to see that community's coronavirus case data. You can also view the town-by-town coronavirus data in the spreadsheet we used to create this map.

The map does not include 306 of the state's 113,198 cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Pin colors are based on change in the positivity rate relative to last week's data; towns with increases are red, towns with decreases are green, and those reporting no change are yellow.