THE STATE’S COVID-19 situation worsened over the last two weeks, with the number of high-risk communities holding steady and the number of moderate-risk communities growing from 30 to 48.
Using the state’s measuring stick of cases per 100,000 people, high risk, or red communities, are those having more than 8 cases per 100,000; moderate risk, or yellow communities, are those with between 4 and 8 cases per 100,000, and low risk anything below 4.
Statewide, the number of cases per 100,000 people over the two-week period ending September 2 increased slightly from 4.0 to 4.2. For comparison purposes, Massachusetts restricted travel from Rhode Island when that state saw its cases per 100,000 people go above 5.
The number of red communities during the most recent two-week period dropped from 9 to 8, with Brockton and Sutton moving from the high-risk to moderate-risk category and the tiny town of Westhampton moving from low risk to high risk due to a surge in cases.
Chelsea remained the hardest-hit community, with 29.4 cases per 100,000 people, followed by Westhampton (21), Revere (20.9), Everett (15.9), Lawrence (14.9), Lynn (12.1), Framingham (10.9), and Winthrop (8.3).
Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera pledged three weeks ago that he would take more drastic action, possibly moving the city back into an earlier phase of reopening, if the case level in Lawrence didn’t improve within two weeks. That deadline passed without any action and the case level has continued to deteriorate.
In the moderate-risk group of communities , eight municipalities moved out into the low-risk category, two (Sutton and Brockton) moved in from the high-risk category, and 24 moved up from the low-risk categories. Overall, there was a net gain of 18 in the moderate-risk, or yellow, category. Several summer vacation communities showed up in the yellow level this week.
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Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
The new additions included Abington, Ashland, Attleboro, Barnstable, Easthampton, Fall River, Hadley, Haverhill, Holbrook, Holden, Holliston, Lowell, Lynnfield, Malden, Maynard, Medford, Nantucket, Northbridge, Orange, Seekonk, Southwick, Waltham, West Bridgewater, and Westport.
Among holdovers from the previous two-week period, Boston saw its rate rise from 7.1 cases per 100,000 to 7.4 cases, Somerville’s case level rose from 4.7 per 100,000 to 5.8, and Norwood went from 4.3 to 6.6.
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