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One hundred eighty-seven Massachusetts cities and towns are now classified as “high risk” for coronavirus spread

One hundred eighty-seven Massachusetts cities and towns are now classified as “high risk” for coronavirus spread, according to data the Department of Public Health released on Thursday.

The communities include by county:

Barnstable County: Barnstable; Brewster; and Yarmouth

Berkshire County: Adams; Great Barrington; Lee; Lenox; and Pittsfield

Bristol County: Acushnet; Attleboro; Berkley; Dartmouth; Dighton; Easton; Fairhaven; Fall River; Freetown; Mansfield; New Bedford; North Attleborough; Norton; Raynham; Rehoboth; Seekonk; Somerset; Swansea; Taunton; and Westport

Dukes County: Edgartown; Oak Bluffs; and Tisbury

Essex County: Amesbury; Andover; Boxford; Danvers; Georgetown; Gloucester; Groveland; Haverhill; Ipswich; Lawrence; Lynn; Lynnfield; Merrimac; Methuen; Middleton; Newbury; Newburyport; North Andover; Peabody; Rowley; Salem; Salisbury; Saugus; Swampscott; Topsfield; and West Newbury

Franklin County: Deerfield; Greenfield; Montague; and Orange

Hampden County: Agawam; Chicopee; East Longmeadow; Holyoke; Ludlow; Monson; Palmer; Southwick; Springfield; West Springfield; Westfield; and Wilbraham

Hampshire County: Granby and Southampton

Middlesex County: Ashland; Ayer; Billerica; Burlington; Chelmsford; Concord; Dracut; Everett; Framingham; Hudson; Littleton; Lowell; Malden; Marlborough; Melrose; North Reading; Pepperell; Reading; Shirley; Stoneham; Tewksbury; Townsend; Tyngsborough; Wakefield; Waltham; Westford; Wilmington; and Woburn

Nantucket County: Nantucket

Norfolk County: Avon; Bellingham; Braintree; Cohasset; Franklin; Holbrook; Medway; Millis; Norfolk; Norwood; Plainville; Quincy; Randolph; Stoughton; Walpole; and Weymouth

Plymouth County: Abington; Bridgewater; Brockton; Carver; East Bridgewater; Halifax; Hanover; Hanson; Hull; Lakeville; Marion; Marshfield; Mattapoisett; Middleborough; Pembroke; Plymouth; Rochester; Rockland; Wareham; West Bridgewater; and Whitman

Suffolk County: Chelsea; Revere; and Winthrop

Worcester County: Ashburnham; Athol; Auburn; Barre; Blackstone; Boylston; Brookfield; Charlton; Clinton; Douglas; Dudley; Fitchburg; Gardner; Grafton; Holden; Lancaster; Leicester; Leominster; Lunenburg; Mendon; Milford; Millbury; Northborough; Northbridge; Oxford; Paxton; Princeton; Rutland; Shrewsbury; Southborough; Southbridge; Spencer; Sterling; Sturbridge; Sutton; Templeton; Uxbridge; Webster; West Boylston; Westborough; Westminster; Winchendon; and Worcester

Last week, the number of cities and towns designated high risk was 158. The latest changes represent a significant jump in communities at higher risk, which coincides with a statewide spike in COVID cases following Thanksgiving.

Roughly 98% of Massachusetts residents now live in communities considered moderate- to-high risk for COVID transmission. MassLive/The Republican analyzed the data from the Department of Public Health’s weekly report dated from Nov. 29 to Dec. 12.

MassLive/The Republican merged the state’s weekly COVID-19 dataset for cities and towns with population data from the U.S. Census Bureau — and then grouped communities by color and aggregated the number of residents.

The statewide breakdown is:

Gray: 122,089, or 1.8%

Green: 45,996, or 0.7%

Yellow: 2,161,109, or 31.6%

Red: 4,500,999, or 65.9%


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