SOUTHWICK- The Town of Southwick continued to report high COVID-19 case numbers this week with 18 new confirmed positive cases.
The 18 cases were reported on Wednesday rather than Friday due to Thanksgiving. Any cases that were detected between Tuesday and Friday will likely be reported with next week’s results instead.
The pandemic total for the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southwick now stands at 178. Just four deaths have been reported in the town due to the virus so far.
Westfield State University reported just four new confirmed cases Thursday in the first full batch of results since the majority of students moved off campus last week due to the out-of-control outbreak. A total of 122 cases have been reported by Westfield State since in-person learning began at the end of September.
Just 298 mandatory tests were administered to those who remain on campus. Six students were in quarantine in Lansdowne Place in downtown Westfield as of Wednesday.
Partially as a result of the Westfield State cluster being resolved, the City of Westfield reported 57 new confirmed cases and one death due to COVID-19 on Wednesday. Westfield State’s cluster was considered to be a large contributor to the city’s COVID-19 numbers in recent weeks. The Westfield Gardens Nursing Home cluster had also been resolved, meaning the cases are largely spread out throughout the city according to Health Director Joseph Rouse.
Massachusetts as a whole continues to report higher daily case counts. On Wednesday, the state reported its highest daily case total since the beginning of the pandemic with 3,224 confirmed cases.
The Department of Public Health did not release a report on any new cases on Thanksgiving. Those numbers are expected to be published on Friday, but they are not expected until after press time.
The average percent-positive rate for the week excluding Thursday’s numbers was 2.8 percent.
