Lowell slips back into ‘high risk’ group

boston » Lowell has returned to the state Department of Public Health’s list of communities classified as “high risk” for coronavirus transmission after being removed from the list just two weeks ago.

The move to reinstate Lowell on the high-risk list comes after the city experienced a slight uptick in two key health metrics monitored by the DPH, including the average daily incidence rate and the percent positivity rate of those who have been tested for the virus.

To qualify as high-risk for coronavirus transmission, the DPH states communities with populaunder 10,000 must have more than 25 cases of the virus. For communities between 10,000 and 50,000 people, they must have an average of at least 10 cases per 100,000 people and a positive test rate of at least 5%. For communities with a population exceeding 50,000, they must have at least 10 cases per 100,000 people and a positive test rate of at least 4%. Each category is based on the previous 14 days of data.

Lowell was placed on the high-risk list in September and remained there until March 4. When it was removed, DPH data showed Lowell’s average daily COVID-19 incidence rate per 100,000 people over the previous 14 days was 24.5, while the pertions cent positivity rate over the previous 14 days was 3.86%.

According to the latest data, Lowell’s average daily COVID-19 incidence rate per 100,000 people over the last 14 days was 25.3, while the percent positivity rate over the previous 14 days was 4.10%. The slight increase in both metrics was just enough to