Health Director says there are no case clusters to speak of
SOUTHWICK- Southwick Health Director Tammy Spencer reported 45 new confirmed COVID-19 cases this week, an unexpected record high after weeks of stabilizing infection rates.
Spencer said during the Board of Health meeting Thursday that the high weekly case count could possibly be attributed to a backlog of previously unreported cases. She said Friday that there are “no definitively reportable clusters outside of households.”
The newly reported cases brings Southwick’s pandemic total to 430 cases. As of Friday afternoon there were 56 active COVID-19 cases in Southwick.
Because more than 25 cases were reported this week, Southwick is again considered to be “in the red,” or a high risk community for COVID-19 spread. Southwick’s percent positivity rate from Jan. 17 to Jan. 30 was 7.2 percent.
Spencer urged people to avoid gatherings to watch the Superbowl on Sunday even though New England legend Tom Brady will be making his 10th appearance.
“My plea to everyone this weekend is no parties with people that they aren’t with all the time,” said Spencer, “Even 10 people is a lot of people.”
This week, Gov. Charlie D. Baker announced that capacity restrictions for certain businesses would be raised from 25 to 40 percent. Restrictions on private gatherings will remain the same for now.
The infection rate continues to improve across the state and across the country. In the last 14 days, the infection rate nationally has dropped approximately 30 percent. On Feb. 4, approximately 121,000 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S..
While the number of infections is still exceptionally high, the decrease in daily infections, deaths, and hospitalizations means that the post-holiday peak is behind us. If the vaccine rollout process continues to improve, and the existing COVID-19 variants can be kept under control, the worst of the pandemic could be behind us as well.
