These are the 16 Mass. communities with the highest risk for COVID-19

Thanks to a change in criteria, the list of Massachusetts communities at highest risk for COVID-19 infection this week is significantly slimmer than last week.

There are just 16 communities in the “red zone,” according to state data released on Friday, down from the 121 communities that made the list the prior week.

The drop of 105 communities from the high-risk category has to do with state officials reworking the measurements involved. The old metric would calculate the average daily case rate per 100,000 residents for a two-week period, which had been criticized as lacking nuance when it came to the size of a particular town’s population.

The new method still does this for larger communities, but more carefully considers a city or town’s population. Communities under 10,000 residents will simply be analyzed by their total case count, while larger cities and towns will be categorized by case count, but also their average daily incidence rate.

The new metric also increases the average daily case count to 10 per 100,000 residents when considering which risk group a community will be put in. The old measurement used over 8 cases per 100,000 to define high risk.

Metrics used to determine the COVID-19 risk of a Massachusetts community.

Here’s a look at each of the 16 communities that made the highest risk list this week.

1. Lawrence

Average daily incidence rate: 62.4 per 100,000Case count: 767Tests conducted: 10,262Positive tests: 1,024Positivity rate: 9.98 percent

2. Norfolk

Average daily incidence rate: 48 per 100,000Case count: 84Tests conducted: 1,037 Positive tests: 85Positivity rate: 8.2 percent

3. Chelsea

Average daily incidence rate: 45.1 per 100,000Case count: 233Tests conducted: 5,166Positive tests: 271Positivity rate: 5.25 percent

4. Revere

Average daily incidence rate: 44.3 per 100,000Case count: 377Tests conducted: 7,641 Positive tests: 479Positivity rate: 6.28 percent

5. Fall River

Average daily incidence rate: 41.8 per 100,000Case count: 523Tests conducted: 8,528 Positive tests: 601Positivity rate: 7.05 percent

6. Fitchburg

Average daily incidence rate: 39.2 per 100,000Case count: 231Tests conducted: 3,779 Positive tests: 250Positivity rate: 6.62 percent

7. Everett

Average daily incidence rate: 36 per 100,000Case count: 245Tests conducted: 5,135 Positive tests: 296Positivity rate: 5.76 percent

8. Somerset

Average daily incidence rate: 35.9 per 100,000Case count: 93Tests conducted: 1,804 Positive tests: 103Positivity rate: 5.71 percent

9. Westport

Average daily incidence rate: 35 per 100,000Case count: 82Tests conducted: 1,324 Positive tests: 89Positivity rate: 6.72 percent

10. Lynn

Average daily incidence rate: 34.4 per 100,000Case count: 486Tests conducted: 8,954Positive tests: 585Positivity rate: 6.53 percent

11. Seekonk

Average daily incidence rate: 28.5 per 100,000Case count: 56Tests conducted: 1,043Positive tests: 58Positivity rate: 5.56 percent

12. New Bedford

Average daily incidence rate: 28.4 per 100,000Case count: 397Tests conducted: 7,752 Positive tests: 464Positivity rate: 5.99 percent

13. Lowell

Average daily incidence rate: 27.7 per 100,000Case count: 450Tests conducted: 10,355 Positive tests: 515Positivity rate: 4.97 percent

14. Methuen

Average daily incidence rate: 27.5 per 100,000Case count: 207Tests conducted: 5,483Positive tests: 261Positivity rate: 4.76 percent

15. Springfield

Average daily incidence rate: 24.6 per 100,000Case count: 539Tests conducted: 16,384 Positive tests: 679Positivity rate: 4.14 percent

16. Brockton

Average daily incidence rate: 24.1 per 100,000Case count: 335Tests conducted: 9,039Positive tests: 393Positivity rate: 4.35 percent

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