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5 Things You Need to Know Today in Worcester – Aug. 12, 2020

By Tom Marino | August 12, 2020
Last Updated: February 2, 2021

In today’s daily 5 Things You Need to Know feature, ThisWeekinWorcester.com explores five important items and stories that Worcester and Central Massachusetts residents should keep a close eye on.

These five things can cover a whole range of subjects and issues that we feel are pertinent to understanding what’s going on in the city and the cities and towns surrounding Worcester.

In today’s edition – Wednesday, August 12 – new COVID-19 growth data released by the Governors office, Massachusetts is the best state to have a baby, there is a new dean at the Clark University School of Management, gas prices drop by a penny this week and Webster cancels tonight’s cruise night.

Governor’s Office Releases COVID-19 Growth Data for Every City and Town

On Tuesday, August 11, Governor Charlie Baker’s office released enhanced COVID-19 data for every city and town in Massachusetts.

The new data shows statistics for the last 14 days for average daily cases per 100k in population, total case count and the average percent of positivity.

The rating system included a color based labeling system for average number of new cases per day over the last 14 days. A municipality is labeled white for less than five reported total cases, green for less than four cases per 100k, yellow for 4-8 cases per 100k and red for more than eight cases per 100k.

Over the previous 14 days, Worcester had 1511 total cases with a 2.5% positivity rate. That equals 5.6 new cases daily per 100k of population.

That made Worcester one of the 29 yellow rated municipalities in Massachusetts.

Auburn is the only other municipality in Worcester County, with 4.3 new cases per day per 100k in population, that received a yellow rating.

Chelsea, Everett, Lynn and Revere were the only municipalities in the state given a red rating.

See the full list of all municipalities in Massachusetts here.

Massachusetts Rated the Best State to Have a Baby

A new study by WalletHub.com found that Massachusetts is the best state to have a baby in the United States.

Ranking each state in eight critical categories, Massachusetts ranked better than average in each category.

With a ranking of one being the best and 25 being average, Massachusetts ranked the following in each category:

  • 15th – Hospital Cesarean-Delivery Charges
  • 20th – Hospital Conventional-Delivery Charges
  • 4th – Infant Mortality Rate
  • 18th – Rate of Low Birth-Weight
  • 9th – Midwives & OB-GYNs per Capita
  • 7th – Pediatricians & Family Doctors per Capita
  • 18th – Child-Care Centers per Capita
  • 1st – Parental-Leave Policy Score

In overall ranking, Minnesota came in second place while Alabama was the worst state in the country.

See the full report here or view the map below for an interactive view of each state’s ranking.

Source: WalletHub

New Dean of the School of Management at Clark University

Alan Eisner, Ph.D. has been named the new dean of the Clark University School of Management.
Eisner was most recently the dean for Graduate Programs at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University, where he has served on the faculty since 1997.
Eisner received his Ph.D. from the Stern School of Business at New York University. He has a B.S. in operations research and industrial engineering and a M.Eng. in engineering management, both from Cornell University.
Eisner will begin his new position on September 14.

Gas Prices Drop in MA by 1 Cent This Week

AAA Northeast, with 5.7 million local AAA members across New England, New York and New Jersey, reports changes in gas prices on a weekly basis.

This week, the average price of gas in Massachusetts has decreased by one cent to $2.12. One year ago this week, the average price of gas in Massachusetts was $2.71.

For comparison, the average price in Rhode Island stayed the same this week, at $2.14. Prices also remained the same in Connecticut at $2.19.

Webster Cruise Night Cancelled

The Community Policing Cruise Night in Webster, scheduled for Wednesday, August 12 has been cancelled.

The even was to be held behind the Webster Police Station. Webster Police cited the new statewide regulations limiting outdoor gatherings to 50 people as the reason for the cancellation.

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