WESTFIELD – Westfield State University’s Davis Hall residents are no longer in quarantine and the number of COVID-19 cases at the school dropped this week to 18.
The 18 new cases were all students, but Westfield State officials have not said how many of them are campus residents and how many are commuters. Davis Hall residents were under quarantine March 12-16 after four students living in the hall tested positive. There were no new positive tests among Davis Hall residents this week.
“We appreciate the cooperation of the campus community to mitigate the spread in Davis Hall and hope that with continued vigilance, we can avoid further disruptions on campus,” said Interim President Dr. Roy H. Saigo, “Please keep in mind that public health officials remind us to wear face masks, wash our hands, and maintain a physical distance of six feet to significantly reduce the chance of contracting COVID-19.”
Crystal Dugay, a contact tracing specialist for the Westfield Health Department, said that of the 18 new cases this week, about a third of them had already been in quarantine as of last week after having been identified as a close contact of a confirmed positive COVID-19 case.
Last week, 27 Westfield State commuter students tested positive. Dugay confirmed that 23 of them were Westfield residents, and that many of them may have contracted COVID-19 at a recent large gathering. The semester total is now 81 positive cases.
