Southwick has five new positive cases this week
WESTFIELD/SOUTHWICK – Westfield State University recorded three new confirmed COVID-19 cases this week as the city as a whole experiences a significant rise in the number of infections.
Westfield State’s three new cases are the first at the university in weeks, bringing the total number of cases on campus to eight since the return of students at the end of September. There were just 25 COVID-19 tests taken on campus this week, making the percent positive rate for the week 12 percent.
There have been 5,865 total tests taken at Westfield State since the beginning of in-person learning with an overall percent positive rate of .136 percent.
Westfield State has scheduled several mandatory testing periods throughout the semester. The next testing period begins Monday, Nov. 2 and will encompass every residential student and commuter students with an on-campus presence. The intervening weeks between each mandatory testing period are likely to produce small sample sizes.
The City of Westfield recorded 56 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total to 678 cases and 61 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Health Director Joseph Rouse said Wednesday evening that about half of the new cases are from the Westfield Gardens nursing home on Feeding Hills Road. The remaining cases are spread throughout the city with no significant clusters yet forming.
Southwick Health Director Tammy Spencer reported Friday afternoon that the Town of Southwick recorded five additional new cases this week, bringing the total number of cases since the pandemic began in Southwick to 95. There are five people in isolation in Southwick as of Friday afternoon.
The Westfield News reported in error last week that the Town of Southwick had recorded just one new COVID-19 case over that week. Southwick actually had five new confirmed cases that week, which brought the total to 90 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The State of Massachusetts as a whole is experiencing a significant rise in the number of new daily COVID-19 infections. The number of daily new cases rose above 1,000 for the first time since May and that number has not gone below that mark since. The highest daily percent positivity rate this week occurred on Oct. 27 with a rate of 7.4 percent. The average daily percent positivity rate this week was 6.3 percent in the state, a significant increase from last week’s, which was 4.1 percent.
