Only 14 communities remain in the red zone this week, as Massachusetts continues to see a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state, according to new state data.
This is a drop of five communities from the list, as a total of 19 had the greatest risk last week.
The state’s average daily business rate also declined again this week, with an average of 20.3 cases per day over the past two weeks. Last week, the state was at 21.3 per 100,000 inhabitants.
A community receives a red-zone designation based on several factors. Small communities with less than 10,000 residents are placed in the red zone, according to the state, if they have had more than 25 cases in the past two weeks. For communities between 10,000 and 50,000 people, a red-zone designation is given if the community has ten or more average cases per 100,000 inhabitants and if the positivity rate is greater than or equal to 5 percent. For communities older than 50,000, they need 10 or more cases per 100,000 residents and a positive percentage of 4 percent or higher.
Here’s a look at each community in the red zone this week, listed alphabetically:
- Black stone
- Chicopee
- Douglas
- Val River
- Freetown
- Lawrence
- Ludlow
- Plainville
- Reversal
- Springfield
- Sterling
- Sutton
- Westminster
- Weymouth
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