Known new Covid-19 cases per capita continued to rise in Framingham last week. That’s likely due largely to testing continuing to ramp up in the state-backed free testing site in the city. The good news: Positivity dropped again. Only 2% of tests were positive – the lowest level since mid-July.
That’s still higher than the state-wide rate of 1.5%, however. (Marlborough, which got a free testing site a few weeks before Framingham, reported a 2.2% rate.)
At an average daily case rate of 5.9 per 100,000 people in the last 14 days, the state Public Health Department continued to categorize Framingham at “yellow” this week. That’s on a scale of white (best), green, yellow, and red.
There were 3,418 molecular Covid-19 tests administered to Framingham residents in the prior 14-day period, vs 2,996 the week before, at least partially explaining the rise in known new cases.
Updated Aug. 24
Looking at a regional metric worth tracking, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Covid-19 wastewater testing is showing a decline in the South region, which Framingham is a part of. Boston and Newton are also part of that South data.
Sewage testing is seen as a potentially useful leading indicator of future Covid-19 case trends, since traces of the virus can show up before people know they are ill.
Updated Aug. 25
There is free walk-up Covid-19 testing at Amazing Things Art Center, 160 Hollis St., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m. through Sept. 10.
See more Covid-19 coverage at http://www.district2framingham.com/tags/covid19/.
Sign up for the District2Framingham.com email list