WESTFIELD- The City of Westfield reported 92 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and four deaths this week as the spread of the virus surges across the country.
The city also reported that 120 people were in active isolation due to COVID-19 as of Nov. 18. The number of confirmed cases in Westfield now stands at 899 since the pandemic began. Seventy-three people are confirmed to have died due to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.
The significant rise in the number of cases comes a week after the city reported 53 cases, which was a drop from the week before, when 76 cases were reported.
Health Director Joseph Rouse has not yet said how or where the virus is spreading throughout the city. In recent weeks, many of the new cases were attributed to clusters at the Westfield Gardens nursing home and Westfield State University.
As of last week the Westfield Gardens cluster had been considered mostly under control according to Rouse. Westfield State announced this week that in-person learning would be suspended for the remainder of the Fall semester due to the spread of COVID-19 within the campus community. On Nov.17, students began to move off campus, with only a handful expected to remain to complete course-work that cannot be done remotely.
The Westfield News will update this story when more information becomes available.
