Framingham’s known Covid-19 cases rose to 37.3 per 100,000, according to data released Friday by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Test positivity increased to 4.67%.
Number of tests administered over the recent 14-day period hit another record. However, while number of tests rose 2.8% from the previous period, number of new cases rose 9%. In other words, the increase in reported new cases was not solely due to more testing.
Statewide hospitalizations have soared 148% in the last 30 days.
Source: Massachusetts Department of Health
Statewide maps
This is a statewide map by community under the new Covid-19 risk color scale:
The color coding can seem puzzling. For example, Ashland, at 31.2 known cases per 100K and a 4.07% positivity rate, remains in the yellow zone – even though Framingham with those same numbers would be classified as red. That’s because there are different rules for communities above and below 50,000 population. (Larger communities need a positivity of at least 4% to be in the red while those with between 10,000 and 50,000 require positivity of at least 5%. Both also need at least 10 new cases per 100K.)
Below is what the map would have looked like if the Baker administration hadn’t changed the criteria for red and yellow zones, when any community with at least 8 cases per 100K was deemed high-risk red, regardless of positivity.
MWRA wastewater tests
Tests for Covid-19 virus traces in MWRA wastewater, considered a possible leading indicator for future infections, have also been rising. Below is a graph of available sample results.
Framingham is in the South region, along with about 20 other communities including Ashland, Natick, Wellesley, and portions of Newton, Brookline, and Boston.
You can click on the legend below to turn one of the line series off and on. You can also click and drag on an area of the graph to zoom in.
Biobot, the external private lab running the testing, announced a change in its data processing protocol on Nov. 27. The above graph reflects the new protocols going back to March (water samples were retested. The new data also includes confidence intervals, but it does not include those. Please go to the MWRA site to see those visualizations.)
See latest Covid-19 coverage at http://www.district2framingham.com/tags/covid19/.
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