MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: 81 High-Risk Towns

MASSACHUSETTS — State officials on Friday designated 81 Massachusetts communities as high risk for the spread of the coronavirus, up from 62 last week.

The majority of the state's cities and towns reported rising positive test rates Friday. The statewide positive test rate was 3.3 percent, roughly level with last week's number.

State officials announced 4,464 new coronavirus cases and 29 more deaths Friday. The seven-day average of hospitalized coronavirus patients increased to 963, compared to 792 a week prior.

The state released the weekly community data Friday, a day delayed due to Thanksgiving.

To date, there have been 211,748 cases and 10,401 deaths statewide since the pandemic began. Officials estimate that there are 41,852 active cases in Massachusetts.

The positive test rate over the last two weeks increased in 216 — or 61.4 percent — of the 351 communities in the state. The rate fell in 81 — or 23.1 percent of — communities and held steady in the remaining 54.

There were 34.9 average daily cases per 100,000 residents, up from 29.7 last week. The number of high-risk communities rose from 62 to 81.

The following communities were designated high-risk Friday: Attleboro, Barnstable, Bellingham, Berkley, Blackstone, Boxford, Brockton, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Chicopee, Clinton, Dartmouth, Dighton, Douglas, Dracut, East Longmeadow, Edgartown, Everett, Fairhaven, Fall River, Framingham, Freetown, Gardner, Georgetown, Hampden, Haverhill, Holyoke, Hopedale, Lancaster, Lawrence, Leicester, Lenox, Leominster, Littleton, Lowell, Ludlow, Lunenburg, Lynn, Malden, Marion, Mendon, Merrimac, Methuen, Middleton, Milford, Millbury, Monson, New Bedford, Norfolk, Oak Bluffs, Paxton, Peabody, Rehoboth, Revere, Rutland, Salisbury, Saugus, Seekonk, Shirley, Somerset, Southbridge, Southwick, Springfield, Sterling, Sutton, Swansea, Taunton, Templeton, Tisbury, Tyngsborough, Upton, Uxbridge, Wenham, West Boylston, West Springfield, Westminster, Westport, Whitman, Winchendon and Woburn.

Health officials say positive coronavirus 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. Seventy-six towns had positive test rates at or above 5 percent over the last two weeks, up from 59 last week.

Just 107 communities had positive rates below 2 percent.

The state reported 119,742 new tests Friday, bringing the total to 8.3 million.

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 584 of the state's cases because state health officials could not determine which communities the patients lived in.

Pin colors correspond to changes in positive test rates: cities and towns with rising test rates are marked red, those with falling test rates are marked green and those with level test rates are yellow.