Town goes back ‘into the red’ as a high risk community
SOUTHWICK- The Town of Southwick reported a sharp increase in the number of weekly COVID-19 cases with 21 new positive cases to bring the town’s pandemic total to 506.
Southwick had four cases the week before. Public Health Nurse Kate Johnson said that the spike in cases brought Southwick back into the high risk category because they had 26 cases over the previous 14 days.
“We will most likely be in the red next week because right now we are at 24 cases from March 7 to March 20,” said Johnson in the remote Board of Health meeting March 18.
Southwick’s percent-positive rate for the previous 14 days is also now higher than that of Hampden County as a whole. Southwick’s positivity rate is 4.19 percent while Hampden County is 3.57 percent.
Johnson said many of the cases were tied to a large gathering that took place in Southwick on March 5. By her observations, most of the cases are spreading within individual households, further driving up the number.
“There are a lot of families where parents are testing positive and then one or two of their kids also test positive,” said Johnson.
Massachusetts as a whole is experiencing a distinct leveling off in the daily case count. Since Feb. 26, the number of daily new COVID-19 cases in the state has mostly hovered between 1,000 and 2,000, with little movement in either a positive or negative direction. On Monday, March 22, Massachusetts will enter Phase 4, Step 1 of Gov. Charlie D. Baker’s reopening plan. As of March 18, Johnson and Southwick Health Director Tammy Spencer said that they had little information on what new guidance’s would be issued by the state for that next step. Spencer said that she expected the new guidance to be issued on March 19 or March 20.
Spencer said during the Board of Health meeting that she thinks Phase 4 is coming too early, considering the high leveling off of new cases in Massachusetts.
“I would have liked to move another month before we enter phase 4, step 1,” said Spencer.
