Coronavirus case rates* per 100,000 by town are published each Thursday by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The case rate represents data collected between January 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022. The increase percentages are based on April 16 data.
On Thursday, April 30, Bedford’s case rate per 100,000 was 18,886.30 (up 5.56%). Case rates in communities contiguous to Bedford were: Billerica 22,043.37 (up 1.97%); Burlington 19,145.19 (up 3.23%); Carlisle 15,773.87 (up 7.48%); Concord 14,553.41 (up 5.25%); and Lexington 12,376.76 (up 7.49%).
*Rate = the number of cases per 100,000 people. This number provides a standardized way to compare the burden of disease in cities and towns regardless of the size of their population, per Mass DPH.
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Not sure where you got these statistics. The case rate currently for Bedford is 44/100,000, not 18,866, according to the Mass Public Health Dept website.
These numbers come through a link in the Boston Globe .. .. .. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/15/nation/massachusetts-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-by-city/. The data that the Globe reports are consistent with the first set of numbers the paper reported on April 16, with all nearby towns showing increases.
We are averaging around 6.6 actual new cases per day in Bedford over the past 14 days. The daily incidence rate is 44 cases per 100,000, based on the rolling 14 day data, as Mark stated.
The rate of 18,866/100,000 cited in the article is total cases since January 1, 2020 (not January 1, 2022 as currently implied in the article). That number itself is not particularly useful to the average person. It will never go down, even if COVID is not currently detected in town. Positivity rate is one indicator for how the town is currently doing, but can be skewed by the number of tests being performed during the reporting period. The daily incidence rate is a much better measure of the current level of COVID in Bedford. The change in daily incidence rate is probably the best measure for informing people as to whether COVID is becoming more or less prevalent in the community.