81 Massachusetts Cities, Towns At High Risk Of COVID-19 Transmission

By Jason Hall

November 30, 2020

A total of 81 Massachusetts cities and towns are reported to be at high risk for COVID-19 transmission.

State health officials confirmed nearly a quarter of the state's 351 cities and towns are considered 'red' zone communities and expect to see another spike in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations after Thanksgiving, with full effects not being completely known until Christmas.

“Just look at Memorial Day, look at the Fourth of July, look at Labor Day,” Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health, said. “We saw surges after all those holidays and it’s very difficult for me to think that we’re going in any other direction but up — which is the wrong trajectory — after Thanksgiving.”

The 'red' zone communities include the following per the Boston Herald:

Attleboro
Barnstable
Bellingham
Berkley
Blackstone
Boxford
Brockton
Chelmsford
Chelsea
Chicopee
Clinton
Dartmouth
Dighton
Douglas
Dracut
East Longmeadow
Edgartown
Everett
Fairhaven
Fall River
Fitchburg
Framingham
Freetown
Gardner
Georgetown
Hampden
Haverhill
Holyoke
Hopedale
Lancaster
Lawrence
Leicester
Lenox
Leominster
Littleton
Lowell
Ludlow
Lunenburg
Lynn
Malden
Marion
Mendon
Merrimac
Methuen
Middleton
Milford
Millbury
Monson
New Bedford
Norfolk
Oak Bluffs
Paxton
Peabody
Rehoboth
Revere
Rutland
Salisbury
Saugus
Seekonk
Shirley
Somerset
Southbridge
Southwick
Springfield
Sterling
Sutton
Swansea
Taunton
Templeton
Tisbury
Tyngsboro
Upton
Uxbridge
Wenham
West Boylston
West Springfield
Westminster
Westport
Whitman
Winchendon
Woburn

Massachusetts has seen a continuing trend of increasing high-risk communities over the past month, which included 62 reported last week, 30 the previous week and 16 two weeks prior.

The state also reported a total of 144 communities listed as 'yellow' or moderate risk, four more than the previous week.

Photo: Getty Images

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