The Baker administration has quietly rolled out the eight new communities being targeted for increased coronavirus testing through the state’s “Stop the Spread” initiative.
Agawam, Brockton, Methuen, Randolph, Revere, Springfield, Taunton and Worcester will join the eight communities already receiving a testing boost through August, according to a list on the state’s website Saturday morning.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said in a press conference Friday that the program would be expanded, but did not name the communities joining the initiative.
The Baker administration launched the testing push earlier this month in Chelsea, Lawrence, Everett, Lowell, Lynn, Marlborough, New Bedford and Fall River – cities and towns where pockets of COVID-19 were stubbornly persisting despite a statewide decline across several key metrics.
“It has been very well utilized,” Sudders said Friday at the State House. “It’s done exactly what we’ve wanted it to do, which is increase access, no barriers.”
But local leaders criticized the initial rollout for not including any municipalities west of Interstate 495.
Sudders said the original eight communities were selected “based on very specific data” including a “significant decrease in testing” since the spring and a higher positivity rate than the state’s average.
“The next eight I think you’ll see a spread in geography,” Sudders said Friday.
The state expects to report full data from the first eight communities next week. Until then, data released each Wednesday by the Department of Public Health shows six of the eight original cities and towns saw their 14-day positivity rates fall this week over last.
Chelsea saw its 14-day positivity rate fall to 3.54% this week from 4.72% last week. Lawrence dropped to 3.71% from 6.32%; Everett rose to 2.22% from 1.86%; Lowell dropped to 2.17% from 2.97%; Lynn ticked down to 3.62% from 4.19%; Marlborough rose from 1.92% from 1.75%; New Bedford fell to 2.69% from 4.13% and Fall River ticked down to 5.28% from 6.25%.
Of the new communities, Agawam’s positivity rate dropped to 2.05% this week from 4.18% last week; Brockton ticked up to 3.96% from 3.91%; Methuen dropped to 1.86% from 2.54%; Randolph went down to 3% from 3.26%; Revere ticked up to 4.3% from 4.14%; Springfield fell to 2.79% from 3.38%; Taunton dropped to 3.66% from 4.8% and Worcester dropped to 1.67% from 2.57%.
All of the communities selected for the strategic testing program have 14-day positivity rates at or above the state’s average, which went down to 1.67% this week from 1.91% last week.
Several of them, including Chelsea, Brockton, Randolph, Revere, Lawrence and Everett, have reported some of the highest — in Chelsea’s case, the highest — cumulative infection rates in the state since January.
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July 26, 2020 at 02:53AM
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8 more communities added to Massachusetts targeted coronavirus testing initiative - Boston Herald
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