More than half of Mass. now high-risk for COVID-19

BOSTON — Three weeks after Thanksgiving, more than half of the state is at high-risk for COVID-19, health officials announced Thursday.

Even with extensive warning from both Governor Charlie Baker and other local leaders, people in Massachusetts still chose to hold gatherings on Thanksgiving, which only worsened the COVID-19 scenario in the commonwealth.

Since then, Gov. Baker has rolled back the state’s reopening so all communities are in Phase 3, Step 1. Some communities, however, decided to take it a step further, rolling back to a modified version of Phase 2. Those communities include Arlington, Boston, Brockton, Lynn, Newton, Somerville, and Winthrop.

Now, a week out from Christmas, officials continue warning people about the spread of COVID-19 tied to those gatherings.

[ Two weeks after Thanksgiving, DPH data shows increase in number of communities at high-risk for COVID-19 ]

Exactly three weeks after Thanksgiving, state officials reported more than half of the state, 187 cities and towns, are now considered “high risk” for COVID-19; last week, 158 were considered high-risk. This week, 76 communities are considered at moderate risk for the virus, compared to 92 the previous week.

The news comes a week after Baker unveiled the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan.

[ COVID-19 updates: New cases, deaths and 7-day average all decrease on Thursday ]

This week, more than half of the state of Massachusetts is considered to be a high-risk “red zone” as cases continue to climb during the holiday season. The jump in cases prompted Baker to roll back the state’s reopening plan back to Phase 3, Step 1 which limits the capacity for retail and gyms and limits the number of people at a restaurant table to six instead of 10, among other changes.

The risk measurement system for cities and towns in Massachusetts raises the cases required per 100,000 threshold for the “red” designation while adding variables for community size and positive test rate.

The system breaks down cities and towns into three categories based on population: those with fewer than 10,000 residents, those with between 10,000 and 50,000 residents, and those with more than 50,000 residents.

The criteria for labeling towns has changed to include gray, along with the existing red, yellow and green designations of how prevalent cases of the virus are in any given city or town.

Towns and cities in red this week include:

Abington, Acushnet, Adams, Agawam, Amesbury, Andover, Ashburnham, Ashland, Athol, Attleboro, Auburn, Avon, Ayer, Barnstable, Barre, Bellingham, Berkley, Billerica, Blackstone, Boxford, Boylston, Braintree, Brewster, Bridgewater, Brockton, Brookfield, Burlington, Carver, Charlton, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Chicopee, Clinton, Cohasset, Concord, Danvers, Dartmouth, Deerfield, Dighton, Douglas, Dracut, Dudley, East Bridgewater, East Longmeadow, Easton, Edgartown, Everett, Fairhaven, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Franklin, Freetown, Gardner, Georgetown, Gloucester, Grafton, Granby, Great Barrington, Greenfield, Groveland, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Haverhill, Holbrook, Holden, Holyoke, Hudson, Hull, Ipswich, Lakeville, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lee, Leicester, Lenox, Leominster, Littleton, Lowell, Ludlow, Lunenburg, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Mansfield, Marion, Marlborough, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Medway, Melrose, Mendon, Merrimac, Methuen, Middleborough, Middleton, Milford, Millbury, Millis, Monson, Montague, Nantucket, New Bedford, Newbury, Newburyport, Norfolk, North Andover, North Attleborough, North Reading, Northborough, Northbridge, Norton, Norwood, Oak Bluffs, Orange, Oxford, Palmer, Paxton, Peabody, Pembroke, Pepperell, Pittsfield, Plainville, Plymouth, Princeton, Quincy, Randolph, Raynham, Reading, Rehoboth, Revere, Rochester, Rockland, Rowley, Rutland, Salem, Salisbury, Saugus, Seekonk, Shirley, Shrewsbury, Somerset, Southampton, Southborough, Southbridge, Southwick, Spencer, Springfield, Sterling, Stoneham, Stoughton, Sturbridge, Sutton, Swampscott, Swansea, Taunton, Templeton, Tewksbury, Tisbury, Topsfield, Townsend, Tyngsborough, Uxbridge, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Wareham, Webster, West Boylston, West Bridgewater, West Newbury, West Springfield, Westborough, Westfield, Westford, Westminster, Westport, Weymouth, Whitman, Wilbraham, Wilmington, Winchendon, Winthrop, Woburn, Worcester, Yarmouth

[ PREVIOUS: Mass. surpasses 10,000 deaths from COVID-19 ]

Communities that are considered at moderate risk are:

Acton, Amherst, Arlington, Bedford, Belchertown, Belmont, Berlin, Beverly, Boston, Bourne, Brimfield, Brookline, Cambridge, Canton, Carlisle, Dalton, Dedham, Dennis, Dover, Dunstable, Duxbury, Easthampton, Essex, Falmouth, Foxborough, Groton, Hadley, Hamilton, Hampden, Harwich, Hingham, Holland, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hubbardston, Kingston, Lexington, Lincoln, Longmeadow, Manchester, Marblehead, Mashpee, Maynard, Medfield, Medford, Millville, Milton, Nahant, Natick, Needham, Newton, North Adams, North Brookfield, Northampton, Norwell, Sandwich, Scituate, Sharon, Sherborn, Somerville, South Hadley, Stow, Sudbury, Sunderland, Upton, Ware, Watertown, Wayland, Wellesley, West Brookfield, Weston, Westwood, Williamstown, Winchester, Wrentham

Across the state as a whole, there have now been a total of 297,301 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 4,985 newly reported Thursday, Dec. 17. An additional 44 new deaths bring the death toll to 11,305 people who died with confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The state estimates there are about 76,215 active cases of the virus in Massachusetts.

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More than half of Mass. now high-risk for COVID-19

State town-by-town data shows 187 communities across the commonwealth are now considered “high-risk” for the virus