Salem is out of the red this week, but Lynn, Revere, and four other North Shore communities are still at a high risk for COVID-19 spread.
Lynn and Revere again lead this week’s COVID-19 hot spots, in terms of the highest positive test rates. Their respective positive test rates are 9.12 and 8.98 percent, which are among the highest in the state, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Lynnfield, Nahant, Peabody and Saugus join those two cities in the red this week, but Salem has been deemed moderate risk, or yellow, the same designation that Marblehead and Swampscott have been given, according to the DPH.
In Lynn, which is tied with Southbridge for the 11th highest positive test rate in the state (among red communities), 51 new cases and two additional deaths were reported by the city on Friday.
Lynn now has 14,799 cases, 1,555 of which are active, 182 people have died, and 13,062 have recovered from the virus, according to city data.
However, there is good news.The city’s daily incidence and positive test rates both declined for the second straight week. Lynn’s positive test rate decreased from 10.7 percent last week, and its daily incidence rate dropped from 92.4 to 71.2 new cases per 100,000 residents this week, the DPH reported.
In Revere, which has the 14th highest positive test rate among the state’s red communities, 32 new cases were reported on Friday to bring the city’s total numbers to 9,051 cases and 141 deaths, according to DPH and city data.
Like Lynn, Revere’s positive test and daily incidence rates dropped this week, from 10.15 to 8.98 percent and 102.6 to 74.5 new cases per 100,000 residents respectively over the past 14 days, according to the DPH.
Peabody, with a positive test rate of 5.98 percent and daily incidence rate of 52.2 new cases, has reported 46 new cases and three additional deaths since Wednesday. The city now has 5,749 cases, 278 people have died, and 4,895 have recovered from the virus, the DPH and city reported.
Of the three other red communities, Lynnfield (934 cases, 27 deaths) reported two new cases, Nahant (213 cases, six deaths) reported no change in its numbers, and Saugus (3,280 cases, 61 deaths) did not update its numbers on Friday.
Marblehead (1,070 cases, 31 deaths) has reported 70 new cases since last Friday, Salem (3,779 cases, 67 deaths) has reported five new cases and an additional death since Wednesday, and numbers were not updated in Swampscott, which had 872 cases and 16 deaths as of Thursday.