WESTFIELD- The City of Westfield’s weekly count of new COVID-19 cases remained steady this week even as the state as a whole is experiencing spikes not seen since the spring..
The Westfield Health Department reported 10 new confirmed COVID-19 cases with seven cases currently in isolation. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the city since the pandemic began to 554.
In Southwick there were three new cases with two active cases, bringing the town’s total to 78 confirmed infections.
While the local infection rate remains relatively low, the daily statewide infection rate topped 700 people Thursday for the first time since the end of May. The spike in infections prompts concerns that a second wave could be on the horizon in Massachusetts. For months the infection rate had been largely under control after the state was one of the worst hit areas in the country in the early days of the pandemic.
Early Friday morning President Donald J. Trump tweeted that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. The first couple got tested after one of President Trump’s top aides, Hope Hicks, tested positive for the virus Thursday evening.
Trump said in his tweet announcing the positive test that he and the First Lady would begin the process of quarantining in the White House.
Democratic Presidential Nominee Joseph R. Biden, his wife Jill, and running mate Kamala Harris all were tested Friday and all tested negative.
Trump and Biden had been in the same room together without masks during the controversial debate Monday evening, which prompted the former vice president to get tested.
The news of Trump’s positive test upends the nature of the already contentious election, which takes place in one month.
