Framingham Joined by Marlborough, Holliston in MetroWest Covid-19 'Red Zone'

Framingham is no longer the lone MetroWest community deemed a Covid-19 high-risk region, as Marlborough and Holliston were added to the list.

However, Framingham’s rate of 12.5 known new cases per 100,000 people is still by far the highest in the region. That’s up from 11.4 last week. Marlborough is at 8.4 this week, Holliston 8.3.

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.

Framingham’s positivity rate was also significantly higher, once again topping 3% at 3.32%. Holliston was at just 1.74%, indicating that its red-zone designation may be due in part to a high level of testing.

Somewhat bizarrely, Massachusetts does not consider positivity rates or tests per capita when determining a red-zone designation. Most experts say that raw numbers alone are not enough to determine a community’s infection severity.

The overall state-wide average was 4.9 known new cases per 100,000 and 0.85% positivity.

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

Framingham State hasn’t announced any Covid-19 test results since Sept. 15, when it reported no new positives among 623 tested.