Twenty Massachusetts communities are in the highest risk group, or red zone, for COVID-19 infection this week, an increase from six communities of Last week, according to state data.
Despite this, the state’s average daily case rate has declined again this week, if only slightly. This week, the rate was 19.5 cases per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks. Last week, it was 20.3 per 100,000.
A community receives a red zone designation based on a number of factors. Small communities with less than 10,000 residents are placed in the red zone if they have had more than 25 cases in total in the past two weeks, according to the state. For communities between 10,000 and 50,000 people, a red zone designation is given if the community has 10 or more average cases per 100,000 residents and if the rate of positivity is greater than or equal to 5 percent. For communities with more than 50,000, they need 10 or more cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 4 percent or more.
Here is a look at each of the communities in the red zone, listed in alphabetical order:
- Barnstable
- Chicopee
- Dighton
- Douglas
- Fall River
- Freetown
- Hanson
- Lancaster
- Lawrence
- Lowell
- Methuen
- Millis
- Plymouth
- Revere
- Rutland
- Southwick
- Sterling
- Sutton
- West Bridgewater
- Yarmouth
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