coronavirus

Which Mass. Cities and Towns Might Get Heightened COVID Enforcement

Publicly available data and Charlie Baker's recent comments may help provide some idea of what communities could be in the governor's upcoming announcement

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Gov. Charlie Baker announced new restrictions as coronavirus cases tick up.

Gov. Charlie Baker is expected to reveal Tuesday what Massachusetts cities and towns will be facing enhanced efforts to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus from his new COVID Enforcement and Intervention Team.

The team, which will work both to enforce coronavirus rules and coordinate with local officials on a more effective response, was created as Massachusetts aims to stop the recent rise of some of its COVID-19 metrics. But it's not yet clear where in Massachusetts the team will begin operating.

Baker said at his announcement Friday that "we'll have a lot more to say about all of this ... on Tuesday, once we have a chance to connect with and talk to many of our colleagues in local government."

But publicly available data, as well as Baker's comments at his news conference announcing the enforcement team on Friday, may help give an idea of what communities could be in the governor's upcoming announcement.

Governor Charlie Baker said that lapses in judgment are contributing to "a slight but important rise" in coronavirus cases in Massachusetts.

Baker said that "communities will be designated" for the enforcement task force "based on public health data [including] new positive cases and percentage of positive covid tests," Baker said.

Community-level data is released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Wednesdays, and last week's batch offers a look at both of those metrics. (Baker said Friday that the next batch of data was being revamped with new data "that shows the spread of COVID-19 on a community level.")

Last week's data gave these 25 communities as those with the highest percentages of positive cases in the prior two weeks, among cities and towns with at least 15 new cases:

CommunityNumber of casesCases in the last 14 daysTotal tests in the last 14 daysPositive tests in the last 14 daysPercent of positive tests in the last 14 days
Lynn4,0202234,5432786.12%
Revere2,0211262,5621556.05%
Brockton4,426792,5401305.12%
Chelsea3,106932,2741124.93%
Everett1,894681,701824.82%
Saugus60333983434.37%
Wrentham22015383164.18%
Chicopee541431,519583.82%
Fall River1,818843,1571123.55%
Lawrence3,824983,4141193.49%
Malden1,331451,834603.27%
Quincy1,289752,617853.25%
Randolph998251,015333.25%
Attleboro70018713212.95%
Taunton1,051491,964552.8%
Framingham1,827422,012562.78%
Springfield3,076924,3041182.74%
Peabody1,070392,060512.48%
Worcester5,5791517,5851862.45%
Agawam506191,034252.42%
Salem685351,573382.42%
West Springfield41115688162.33%
Holyoke1,007402,299532.31%
Westfield49320985222.23%
New Bedford2,258462,722602.2%

The highest number of total cases detected in the prior two weeks includes some of the same places:

City/TownNumber of casesCases in the
last 14 days
Boston15,001440
Lynn4,020223
Worcester5,579151
Revere2,021126
Lawrence3,82498
Chelsea3,10693
Springfield3,07692
Fall River1,81884
Brockton4,42679
Quincy1,28975
Everett1,89468
Taunton1,05149
New Bedford2,25846
Malden1,33145
Chicopee54143
Framingham1,82742
Holyoke1,00740
Peabody1,07039
Somerville1,03737
Salem68535
Lowell3,04034
Saugus60333
Cambridge1,03433
Marlborough1,04526
Randolph99825

Lynn, Revere, Chelsea and Brockton both appear toward the top of each list. But Boston, which has the most cases as well as the largest population in Massachusetts, has been doing fairly well, Baker said Friday, noting that he was more concerned about communities around Boston.

A better indication of which communities are currently in need of special attention from the state government may be how much recent cases make up the location's total number of cases.

City/TownNumber of cases Cases in the last 14 days Recent case count as percent of total
Chicopee541437.95%
Northampton304206.58%
Revere20211266.23%
Quincy1289755.82%
Lynn40202235.55%
Saugus603335.47%
Salem685355.11%
Taunton1051494.66%
Fall River1818844.62%
Westfield493204.06%
Holyoke1007403.97%
Agawam506193.75%
Peabody1070393.64%
Everett1894683.59%
Somerville1037373.57%
Malden1331453.38%
Cambridge1034333.19%
Chelsea3106932.99%
Springfield3076922.99%
Boston150014402.93%
Weymouth768222.86%
Newton816232.82%
Worcester55791512.71%
Attleboro700182.57%
Lawrence3824982.56%

Baker hasn't said how many cities and towns will be on the list, but it's also not necessarily a bad thing to be on the list at all. While it can come with more coronavirus-related shutdowns as well as increased scrutiny from law enforcement, which can issue fines to violators, it may also mean more federal coronavirus relief funding will be spent in the area.

"Our goal is to identify those communities through public health data, increased enforcement and to help amplify awareness in those communities so that the residents and businesses in those communities can practice the vigilance that's required to help them deal with their outbreaks," Baker said.

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