November 12, 2020 by Carol Britton Meyer (photo courtesy of Unsplash)
There are 25 new Hingham COVID-19 cases since last week, up from 12 new cases the previous week. The case count over the last 14 days was 31, with a total of 449 cases since Jan. 1, according to Massachusetts Department of Public Health statistics released today, Nov.12.
Despite the higher amount of new cases, Hingham remains in the "green" zone for the second consecutive week, after being in the higher-risk "red zone" for three consecutive weeks.
"The state recently revised its COVID-19 metrics to account for population size and positivity rate in determining how a community moves between the different color designations," Town Administrator Tom Mayo explained at this week's Selectmen's meeting.
According to new state guidelines, cities and towns with between 10,000 and 50,000 residents will be considered high-risk if they average more than 10 cases per 100,000 people and a positive test rate of five percent or higher. Due to revised guidelines, the number of communities in the state classified as “high-risk” — or “red zone” areas — for COVID-19 has dropped significantly.
Tomorrow, Nov. 13, the Hingham Health Department will roll out a new COVID-19 dashboard that can be found on the COVID-19 Update Center link on the town website -- https://www.hingham-ma.gov/. The dashboard consolidates state and Hingham Public Schools data into one visual that will be updated each Friday.
Under the current state guidance, Hingham remains in Phase 3, Step 1 of the governor’s reopening plan. "We need three consecutive weeks in a non-'red' category to be considered 'lower risk' and to move back to Phase 3, Step 2," which has fewer restrictions, according to Mayo.