A cOVID wakeup call

More Bay State communities wind up on high-risk list

An increasing number of cities and towns are finding themselves on the state’s high-risk list for the coronavirus — a disheartening designation that leaders of several newer entrants hope will serve as a wake-up call for their residents.

“It’s going to wake everybody up,” Dr. Michael Hirsh, medical director of the Worcester Department of Public Health, said in a press conference Thursday. ”I hope people take it seriously, because they have it in their power individually to help the entire community fight this off.”

Worcester is among the 17 communities now considered to be at high risk for coronavirus infections. Under state Department of Public Health guidelines, that means they reported an average daily incidence rate of at least eight cases per 100,000 residents over the two-week period ending

Saturday. In Worcester’s case, it was 9.5.

The number of cities and towns classified “red” for having the highest risk has more than doubled in the past two weeks, climbing from eight two weeks ago, to 13 last week, to 17 now.

“I don’t think you can draw a conclusion that this is getting worse based on that data,” Gov. Charlie Baker said in a press conference Thursday.

It takes three weeks’ worth of data to denote a trend, “which is why we’re talking about certain communities as being persistently high risk and others that sort of pop in and pop out,” he said.

Chelsea, Dedham, Everett, Framingham, Lawrence, Lynn, Lynnfield, Monson, New Bedford, Revere and Winthrop all remained in the red this week.

Saugus, which had an average daily incidence rate of nine cases per 100,000 people, returned to the list this week, joining Nantucket, Plainville, Tyngsboro, Worcester and Wrentham.

“Obviously being labeled as high risk is concerning,” Saugus Town Manager

Scott Crabtree said. “But it also acts as awareness to remind people of the due diligence that’s necessary to protect each other.”

In Wrentham, which had an average rate of 9.5 cases, officials linked the town’s 15 infections over the past two weeks to a cluster tied to a single nursing home.

Baker said it’s “critically important” for clusters that emerge from congregate care facilities or gatherings — such as cases from two recent parties in Dedham that catapulted the town to the red — “to be recognized, understood and dealt with on a timely basis, which is part of the reason we continue to update this data every week.”

A city’s high-risk status can bring with it as much fear as it can necessary help from the state through bolstered testing, enforcement and awareness efforts. Officials from Worcester and Nantucket, which averaged 18.9 cases per 100,000 people, said Thursday they already had meetings lined up with the state for additional resources.

“It is an opportunity for all of us to redouble our efforts,” City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said. “This is a reminder that this virus will come back quickly if we do let our guard down.”