tests given to city residents hit a record high, according to data
released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health [1] today.
The city remains a Mass high-risk "red zone" community with 12.8 known
new cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days. Rates higher than 8
per 100K classify a community at high risk under state guidelines.
Surprisingly, the state looks at raw numbers only and does not consider
testing per capita or positivity rates in its designations.
Number of tests in the last 14 days soared to 6,471. That's up 17% from
last week's 5,511. However, even with last week's lower test rate, the
city would likely still be in the red zone.
Framingham's test positivity rate remained relatively stable at 2.52%.
Massachusetts DPH also reported today [2] that Covid-19 hospitalizations
are up 63% statewide since mid-August.
Below is a graph of the 7-day average of known new cases in actual
numbers (not per 100,000) in Framingham:
Elsewhere in MetroWest, Marlborough remained a red-zone community with
rates and positivity similar to Framingham. Holliston moved out of the
red zone, but Southborough and Hudson are now also considered high risk.
Framingham State University has not released test data since Sept. 29.
In September, the school was not a large source of known new infections.
"The City has said the increase in cases is coming from Districts 7-8-9
as well as multi-family dwellings," according to Framingham Source [3].
Statewide, there were 7.3 known new cases per 100,000 people in the last
14 days vs Framingham's rate of 12.8. Positivity averaged 1.04%
throughout the state.
_See latest Covid-19 coverage at
http://www.district2framingham.com/tags/covid19/._