Sept. 16 Framingham Covid-19 Update - Still a Red-Zone City but Positivity Dips

Framingham remains a Covid-19 red zone community, designated as “high risk” by state officials. The state ranking looks solely at number of known new cases per capita and not at testing per capita or positivity rates.

However, Framingham’s known new cases per 100K and its test positivity rate are both substantially higher than the state-wide averages.

Framingham had 11.4 known new cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days, according to data released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The statewide average is 4.6.

A graph of the city’s 7-day average of known new cases - the actual number, not per 100,000 – is below:

(Updated Sept. 16)

Framingham joins 16 other communities in the red-zone designation with more than 8 per 100,000.

State scale: Gray, less than 5 reported cases in the last 14 days; Green, less than 4 cases per 100,000 population; Yellow, 4-8 cases per 100,000 population; Red, more than 8 cases per 100,000 population.

The city’s positivity rate dipped below 3 for the first time this month, to 2.88%. However, that’s still much higher than the state average of 0.9%.

Framingham State University has not released any Covid-19 testing data since September 11. At that time, the university reported 15 positive tests out of 2,127. Of 10 students in quarantine, eight were off campus.

FSU has opened for some in-person classes, even though Framingham, as a red-zone city, can’t conduct in-person K-12 public school classes.