As we enter the last stretch of summer before school starts, there is no better way spend a day than relaxing at one of the Bay State’s beautiful beaches.

However, the number of closed beaches in Massachusetts keeps getting higher. This weekend, over 50 beaches are closed due to unsafe swimming water.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) states that swimming in the water at these closed beaches poses a threat of illness due to high levels of bacteria. Symptoms can range from nausea and vomiting to a sore throat and fever.

Here’s a full list of closed beaches to avoid when planning your weekend.

What beaches in Massachusetts are currently closed due to bacteria?

The following MA beaches, listed by town, are closed as of Friday, Aug. 16:

• Amherst:
  • Puffers Pond (Bacterial Exceedance, Other)
  • Stanley St. swimming hole at Cushman Bridge (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Ashby: Damon Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Ashland: Ashland Reservoir Main Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Barnstable:
  • Wequaquet Lake Town (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
  • Wequaquet Lake Yacht Club (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• Braintree: Smith Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Brewster: Upper Mill Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• Concord: Walden Pond (Other)
• Danvers: Sandy Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Dartmouth: Moses Smith Creek (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Framingham: Learned Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Grafton: Silver Lake Beach (Other)
• Harwich: Sand Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• Haverhill: Plugs Pond (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Holland: Collette Drive Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Kingston: Gray’s (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Lowell: Merrimac River (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Lynn:
  • Kings (Bacterial Exceedance)
  • Lynn Shore Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Nahant: Nahant Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Nantucket: Sesachacha Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• Natick: Cochituate State Park Beach (Bacterial Exceedance, Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• North Andover:
  • Frye Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
  • Stevens Pond (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Northampton: Musante Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Oxford: Carbuncle Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• Plymouth: Nelson Park (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Quincy: Norton Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Salem:
  • Camp Naumkeag (Other)
  • Children’s Island (Bacterial Exceedance)
  • Ocean Avenue (Bacterial Exceedance)
  • Willow Avenue (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Saugus: Pearce Lake at Breakheart Reservation (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Shutesbury: Lake Wyola (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Springfield: Bass Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• Swampscott: Kings (Other)
• Templeton:
  • Beamans Pond Campground (Bacterial Exceedance)
  • Beamans Pond Day Use (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Townsend: Pearl Hill Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Truro: Longnook (Other)
• Wayland: Wayland Town Beach (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• West Stockbridge: Card Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• West Tisbury: Seth’s Pond (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Westborough: Lake Chauncy Beach (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
• Westfield: Hampton Ponds Kingsley Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Winchendon: Lake Dennison State Park (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Winchester: Shannon Beach at Upper Mystic (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Winthrop: Halford (Bacterial Exceedance)
• Worcester:
  • Indian Lake Public Beach at Sherburne Ave (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
  • Lake Quinsigamond-Regatta Point Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
  • Shore Park (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)

Most beaches are closed due to bacterial exceedance, meaning the levels of bacteria in the water are higher than the limits set by the MDPH.

Those in the “other” category can be closed due to a variety of chemical or physical hazards, such as riptides and poor visibility.

Beach weather this weekend: AccuWeather warning about rip currents developing this weekend from storm off coast

When will beaches in Massachusetts re-open?

According to the MDPH website, beaches can only re-open when their bacteria levels are back within the safe range, so there is no set amount of time for a closure.

The status of a closed beach can be checked on the website’s water quality dashboard, which is updated at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. daily.

National Hurricane Center cautioning beachgoers in the Atlantic

Forecasters are warning beachgoers about possible “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” this weekend because of Hurricane Ernesto. The storm is not predicted to make landfall in New England.

“Even if Ernesto stays well offshore of the U.S. East Coast, beach goers should be aware of a significant risk of deadly rip currents beginning later this week,” the National Hurricane Center said earlier this week.

Riptides or rip currents are powerful currents of water that can pull people away from shore, according to the National Weather Service. They can be deadly: data from the NWS shows rip currents have killed almost 30 people this year alone.

If caught in a rip current, the NWS says to yell for help and remain calm and stay afloat while waiting for help. Do not swim directly against a riptide, rather swim parallel to the shore.

Melina Khan contributed to this report.

A man in his 80s who was exposed in Worcester County is the state’s first human case of Eastern equine encephalitis since 2020, and risk levels for the mosquito-borne illness have been elevated in that region, Massachusetts health officials announced Friday.

Generally spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, the disease is rare, yet serious and potentially fatal to people of all ages, officials said.

The risk level has been increased to “critical” in Douglas, Oxford, Sutton, and Webster, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

A “high” risk level has been set in Dudley, Northbridge, and Uxbridge, officials said in a statement.

Meanwhile, nine neighboring communities are now considered at “moderate” risk: Auburn, Charlton, Grafton, Leicester, Mendon, Millbury, Millville, Southbridge, and Upton.

“EEE is a rare but serious disease and a public health concern,” Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said in the statement. “We want to remind residents of the need to protect themselves from mosquito bites, especially in areas of the state where we are seeing EEE activity.”

In 2019, 12 people were infected with EEE in Massachusetts and six died. In 2020, there were five human cases in the state and one death, the statement said. There were no human cases in the state in 2021, 2022, or 2023.

The season’s first EEE-positive mosquitoes in Massachusetts were announced on July 3rd from Carver, the statement said.

Earlier this month, the state said the state’s first animal case of EEE this year had been confirmed in a horse exposed in Plymouth County.

“The risk from EEE is high in parts of Plymouth County and critical in parts of Worcester County,” State Epidemiologist Dr. Catherine M. Brown, said in the statement. “In addition to recommending that people use mosquito repellent with an EPA-registered active ingredient and clothing to reduce exposed skin, we also recommend that evening outdoor events be rescheduled to avoid the hours between dusk and dawn. The mosquitoes most likely to spread EEE are most active during the dusk to dawn hours.”

Infected mosquitoes also have been identified in Abington, Halifax, Kingston, Middleborough, Plymouth, Wareham, and Whitman in Plymouth County, Taunton and Westport in Bristol County, Barnstable in Barnstable County, Dedham in Norfolk County, Sudbury in Middlesex County, and Amesbury and Haverhill in Essex County.

More information, including all EEE positive results, can be found on the Arbovirus Surveillance Information web page at Mosquito-borne Diseases | Mass.gov, which is updated daily, or by calling the DPH Division of Epidemiology at 617-983-6800.

Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.