Covid cases continue to rise in Wareham

Oct 21, 2020

The number of covid cases continues to be on the rise, reported Town Administrator Derek Sullivan at the Oct. 20 Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

Since Oct. 5, there have been 22 new confirmed cases in town. The number of active cases is 28.

Since Sept. 1, there have been 47 cases, 19 of whom have recovered. 

There have been no deaths from coronavirus since Sept. 1.

“We’re spiking again,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that he was unhappy to see that the Planning Board did not wear masks during their meeting in the MultiService Center on Oct. 19.

In response, the Selectmen voted to mandate mask wearing in all town-owned buildings, and said that those who were unable or unwilling to wear a mask must participate in meetings remotely, except in the case of those with a documented medical reason. 

“Your grandparents were asked to go off to war, you’re being asked to wear a mask,” Peter Teitelbaum said.

It is likely that the town will stay in the yellow lower-risk category in this week’s state report, due to be published Wednesday afternoon.

While the town is still “lower-risk,” as defined by the state, a further increase in cases could jeopardize that status and force the town to return to Phase 3, Step 1 restrictions -- that would mean fitting rooms would close and capacity limits at gyms would be reduced.

Green represents an average daily case rate of less than four per 100,000 people. Yellow represents a rate between four and eight per 100,000, and red indicates a rate higher than eight per 100,000 people.

The state defines lower risk communities as cities and towns that have not been in the red category in any of the last three weekly Department of Public Health reports.