https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2021/08/all-of-massachusetts-now-considered-high-or-substantial-risk-for-covid-spread-meeting-cdcs-mask-threshold.html

All of Massachusetts now considered high or substantial risk for COVID spread, meeting CDC’s mask threshold

All 14 counties in Massachusetts are now labeled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as at high or substantial risk for COVID-19 transmission.

Suffolk, Essex, Bristol, Plymouth, Hampden, Dukes and Nantucket counties are labeled as high risk. Barnstable, Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk and Worcester counties are labeled as substantial risk.

The CDC urges people in areas of high or substantial risk to wear masks in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status. The data is acquired using population and positivity rates. The full CDC map of the United States is available here.

Earlier this week, only Hampshire County was listed at the moderate level of transmission.

Across the state, some towns and cities have started requiring masks indoors. Some school districts are also planning to start the academic year with a mask mandate.

Vaccinated people in Massachusetts have accounted for 0.23% of COVID cases since vaccination began, up from 0.18% the week before. They represented 0.01% of hospitalizations.

State health officials reported Friday that 12,329 more vaccine doses have been issued. Using updated U.S. Census figures for Massachusetts, about 63% (4.4 million) of the state’s population is fully vaccinated with 66% having received at least one dose.

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