Covid-19: 'Red' Communities More Than Double In Central, Western Mass - Local Rates And Trends

Last week there were 9 Central and Western Massachusetts communities in the red.

Now there are 21: Blackstone, Chicopee, Clinton, Douglas, Fitchburg Hampden, Holyoke, Lancaster, Leominster, Ludlow, Lunenburg, Milford, Northbridge, Southbridge, Southwick, Springfield, Sterling, Templeton, Uxbridge, West Springfield, Winchendon.

To see local rates and trends, scroll to the end of the article.

Among the red communities, 10 are new to the list since last week: Blackstone, Douglas, Lancaster, Ludlow, Northbridge, Southbridge, Southwick, Sterling, Templeton, and Winchendon.

No communities have been removed from the list since last week, Nov.12. Among the communities that have appeared on the red list for at least two weeks in a row, only Uxbridge was able to bring its COVID-19 rate down.

Massachusetts has changed the system for local COVID-19 rates and infections in a move Gov. Charlie Baker will provide cities and towns with a more accurate picture of the risk.

To be a red city or town, a small community must have 25 or more total cases; a medium community must have an average of more than 10 cases per 100,000 people or a positive COVID-19 test rate of 5 percent or more; for large communities, they must have an average case rate of more than 10 cases per 100,000 people and a positive test rate that is 4 percent or higher.

Overall, the state average incident rate for the week of Nov. 19 was 29.4.- up from 20.7 last week, Nov. 12.

The following Central and Western Massachusetts are in the red, according to Massachusetts’ most recent weekly data report, Thursday, Nov. 19. Alongside the community is the average daily incident rate per 100,000 people over the last 14 days. Communities that were on the list last week, Nov.12, are in bold; the rate for the prior week will be presented in parenthesis ().

BLACKSTONE 25.3

Chicopee 39.2 (25.3)

Clinton 40.1 (29.4)

DOUGLAS 31.6

Fitchburg 55.8 (48.5)

HAMPDEN 40.8

Holyoke 53.4 (45.3)

LANCASTER 27.4

Leominster 63.3 (45.1)

LUDLOW 34.1

LUNENBURG 61.6

MILFORD 38.2 (30.7)

NORTHBRIDGE 40

SOUTHBRIDGE 34.9

SOUTHWICK 32.1

Springfield 51.1 (35.2)

STERLING 40

TEMPLETON 20.6

Uxbridge 34.8 (36.1)

West Springfield 40.2 (28.7)

WINCHENDON 27.9.

Didn't see your community? For a full list of town-by-town COVID-19 rates, see Massachusetts's most recent community-level weekly data report.

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