Canton Officials Share New Metrics for Risk Level Designation, Urge Continued Vigilance to Stop the Spread of COVID-19

CANTON — The Canton Select Board and Interim Superintendent of Schools Derek Folan would like to share information regarding the updates to community COVID-19 metrics shared by the state last week and continue to urge the community to follow COVID-19 prevention guidance.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) last week updated how risk designations are calculated to better reflect COVID-19 caseload in relation to population. Prior to the updated metric considerations, the Town of Canton had been designated as a high risk or “red” community for several weeks. With the new metrics, Canton moved to a “yellow” designation last week. This week the town moved to a “green” or low risk designation which indicates less than 10 average COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents with at least 10 total cases in Canton.

According to public health data released on Thursday, Nov. 12, there were 23 new confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Canton over the previous two weeks. Canton’s average daily incidence rate decreased to 7.1 per 100,000 residents, down from 10.8 last week. 

“Though the lower risk designation is reassuring for our community, as cases continue to rise across the state we urge all residents to ensure they are taking the proper steps to protect their health, the health of their coworkers or classmates, those in their household and the health of the community as a whole,” said Board of Health Director Barbara Reardon.

Canton public health officials are urging residents to continue the public health practices that have helped to reduce the spread of the virus in town all year, including social distancing, wearing a mask in public and frequent hand washing. 

Canton residents are also reminded of the new state measures now in effect. They include: 

• Stay At Home Advisory: A revised Stay At Home Advisory has been issued which instructs residents to stay home between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Exceptions are made for activities such as going to work, running critical errands to get groceries and address health needs, and taking a walk. To read the revised advisory, click here.
• Early Closure of Businesses and Activities: A new executive order requires certain businesses to close and activities to end each night at 9:30 p.m. To read the new executive order, including a full list of businesses affected by the new early closure requirement, click here.
• Face Coverings: Face coverings are now required in all public places, even if 6 feet of social distance can be maintained. Limited exceptions remain. To read the revised face-coverings order, click here.
• Gatherings: A new order reduces the gathering size limit for gatherings at private residences. Indoor gatherings at private residences are limited to 10 people and outdoor gatherings at private residences are limited to 25 people. The new order also requires that organizers of gatherings report known positive COVID-19 cases to the local health department and requires organizers to cooperate with contact tracing. To read the revised gatherings order, click here.

Canton residents are encouraged to get tested for COVID-19 if they have any symptoms (abdominal pain, chills, cough, headaches, fever, diarrhea, loss of appetite, loss of taste/smell, muscle aches/pains, shortness of breath, sore throat or vomiting) or if they have been a close contact of a positive case. It is important to stay home while waiting for test results. The closest Stop the Spread testing sites are located in Brockton and Randolph. For information about testing availability nearby through the Stop the Spread initiative, click here. 

Any resident with questions or concerns is asked to contact the Canton Board of Health at 781-821-5021. To see updates on Canton’s public health data, visit the Board of Health’s webpage here.

For additional tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), click here, and from the Massachusetts DPH, click here. 

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