Latest Town-By-Town Coronavirus Cases In Massachusetts
MASSACHUSETTS — The state Department of Public Health updated town-by-town data on the new coronavirus Wednesday and unveiled a new format showing the 14-day positive test rate for every Massachusetts municipality.
Statewide, there were 142 COVID-19 cases rand 27 deaths reported Wednesday. Since the first reported death March 20, there have been 8,152 coronavirus-related deaths in Massachusetts.
The data shows the positive test rate increased in 65, or 18.5 percent, of the 351 Massachusetts communities. It was only the second week the state Department of Public Health released the positive test rate for the previous two weeks for every town and city in the state.
The state conducted 10,424 tests Wednesday, bringing the total number of completed tests to 1.26 million.
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 up social distancing restrictions.
The data also 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 264 of the state's 106,128 cases because state health officials could not determine which community the patients lived in.
Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).
This article originally appeared on the Boston Patch
