‘Urgent need to keep gatherings as small as possible,’ healthcare official warns

Nov 23, 2020

Household transmission of coronavirus is increasing ahead of the holidays, according to Shawn Badgley, SouthCoast Health’s public information officer. He said it was “especially concerning” that from Oct. 18 to Nov. 14, 86 percent of Massachusetts’ more than 18,000 confirmed covid-19 cases were attributed to household transmission. 

“This indicates an urgent need to keep gatherings as small as possible right now, and certainly during the holidays,” Badgley said. “Our frontline nurses, providers, support services and clinical staff — many of whom haven’t been able to see extended family and friends for most of the year, and who may very well be working on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other occasions — are counting on you.”

He urged people to wear masks, wash their hands frequently, socially distance and avoid indoor gatherings.

As of Nov. 23, Tobey Hospital in Wareham had 10 patients hospitalized for covid-19, with two patients on ventilators, according to Badgley. Another two hospitalized patients are considered “under investigation” for covid-19, meaning they are displaying symptoms of covid-19 but are awaiting test results.

Wareham Public Schools is reporting three student and three staff cases of covid-19 in the past week.

According to data released by the state on Nov. 22, there are no current coronavirus cases at Tremont Healthcare, Wareham Healthcare, or All American Assisted Living.

When the most recent weekly report was released by the state on Nov. 19, Wareham had an average daily incidence rate of 15.1 cases per 100,000 people, in the last 14 days. Given Wareham’s population, this means there were about 3.47 new cases each day over the last two weeks.

A week ago, there were only about 2.6 new cases daily. 

Wareham remained yellow this week, which is the same classification it had last week.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the state will not release new town-by-town numbers until Friday, Nov. 27.