Framingham’s Covid-19 infection and positivity rates both declined compared with the prior week, according to data released today by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
In fact, this marks the first time in many weeks that Framingham had a lower new infection rate than the state-wide average. This week’s Massachusetts average was 58.3 known new cases per 100,000 population. Framingham’s was 57.3, down from 69.4 the prior week and 80.6 the week before that.
However, several experts have cautioned that Covid data around major holidays has been notoriously unreliable. We should know more by mid-January as to whether the decline in city’s cases is real or temporary.
Positivity declined to 7.34% from 7.91% the prior week. The city’s positivity rate remained higher than the state-wide average, which was 6.51% this week.
Number of tests administered to Framingham residents dipped as well, which isn’t surprising given the Christmas holiday. There were 9,689 tests administered to city residents in the prior 14 days, vs 10,990 in the previous 14-day period.
MWRA wastewater tests
Below is a graph of latest Covid-19 wastewater tests for virus traces. These tests aren’t affected by the number of people who are tested, and results can help predict outbreaks. However, if substantially more people travel out of the region than arrive as visitors, that would affect results.
Framingham is in the MWRA South region along with more than 20 other communities.
(Click a series on the legend to turn it off or on; click and drag within the graph to zoom in on an area.)
Please go to the MWRA Web site for more info on this data.
Elsewhere in Massachusetts
You can see rates elsewhere in Massachusetts in the table below, which is searchable and sortable:
Covid-19 Known New Infections Prior 14 Days
Source: Massachusetts Department of Public HealthAnd here’s a look at how many communities are in the state’s new high-risk red zone: