November 6, 2020
Fitchburg coronavirus rate nearly doubles amid broader increases
Photo | Grant Welker
Main Street in downtown Fitchburg
The rate of new coronavirus cases in the past two weeks has nearly doubled in Fitchburg, with the city showing far and away the most severe outbreak in Central Massachusetts, according to data released late Friday.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has altered the way it categorizes cities and towns, with Fitchburg now the only Central Massachusetts community in the highest-risk, or red, category. The city has recorded 250 new cases in the past two weeks, and 1,177 in all.
News reports said the city's outbreak came from Crossroads Community Church, where more than 200 confirmed cases have been linked. The church has since canceled in-person gatherings but said on its website that tying cases to the church was a rush to judgment.
"Attributing the COVID outbreak within the City of Fitchburg to Crossroads Community Church is unfair and a distortion of the facts," the church said on its Facebook page.
But 31 cities and towns in Central Massachusetts have case rates of at least 10 per 100,000 people in the last two weeks, which would place them in the red category under the old system. A week prior, 23 cities and towns had a slightly lower rate — 8 positive cases per 100,000 — to be placed into the red category.
The highest rates include Worcester at 16 cases per 100,000, Gardner at 20.5, and Marlborough at 18. Framingham is at 15.6 in the past two weeks, and Clinton at 16.7.
The statewide rate in the past two weeks is 15.3 per 100,000, carried in part by especially high numbers in dense cities including Fitchburg, Chelsea, Lawrence, Springfield and Revere.
Worcester County has had 17,368 total cases through Thursday, with 896 in the past week alone. Statewide, cases in the past week have risen by 8,439 to 158,937. In both cases, those weekly counts are the highest since the week ending May 20.
In the state's new categorization, cities and towns are placed in the red category if they fit two criteria.
For communities over 50,000 in population, it must have 10 or more cases per 100,000 in the past two weeks and a positivity rate of 4% or higher. For those between 10,000 and 50,000, the threshold is 10 cases per 100,000 and positivity rates of 5% or more. For communities under 10,000, the limit is 25 cases or more in the past two weeks.
Cities are placed in other categories — yellow, green or gray, with descending severity — depending on their numbers in those categories.
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