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Latest Dept. of Public Health COVID-19 Numbers Keep Burlington in the Red

With Burlington’s current numbers of COVID-19 cases the town remains in the red and according to local health officials, unless behaviors change that will not change any time soon.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s most recent town-by-town report dated January 7, Burlington’s percent positivity rate is 7.8 percent and the town’s average daily incident rate per 100,000 people is 58. Under state guidelines to be lowered into the yellow the town would need to have a positivity rate under 5 percent and for a town this size have 10 cases per 100,000 people per day or fewer.

In Burlington and around the area that is not the current trend. The previous report had Burlington with a percent positivity rate of 7.5 percent and a daily case rate of 53 per 100,000 people. Other towns are seeing similar numbers.

“What we’re seeing everywhere is the percent positivity rate is rising all over the state,” Burlington Health Director Susan Lumenello said. “We have to see a decline in the number of cases and a decline in the percent positivity rate to get back into the yellow.

Board of Health Chair Dr. Ed Weiner said everyone has to stay vigilant as we wait for a complete rollout of the vaccine in order to keep the community safe.

“We are now in an upsurge situation, where the numbers of people within this town has been going up in terms of infectivity,” he said. “Everybody needs to do what they can to stay well and stay safe. They need to wear a mask, they need to social distance, they need to shelter when they can. We have a vaccine now, and at some point we’ll be in a much better place, but right now you’ve got to keep safe.”

He added that at the current rate of the rollout people who are not healthcare workers, first responders, elderly or have underlying conditions may not get vaccinated until June or July.