Wareham has seen a surge of 84 new cases of covid-19 in the past week, according to the state’s weekly public health report. The weekly case count exceeds totals seen back in April and May — the months with Wareham’s two highest weekly totals until now.

The past week’s 84 new cases are nearly double those record-high weeks in the spring. One week in April, Wareham reported 44 new cases of covid-19. Two weeks later, in May, Wareham reported 47 new cases. 

According to the state’s weekly report released Thursday, Dec. 10, Wareham’s average daily incidence rate jumped to 33.08 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days. Given Wareham’s population, this means there were about 7.61 new cases each day over the past two weeks.

Wareham has also seen a percent positivity rate — or the percentage of covid-19 tests performed that come back positive — of 7.73 percent over the last 14 days. 

The increase in cases and the rising percent positivity rate kept Wareham classified “red” per the state’s guidelines — the same category the town was in last week.

A week ago, the state’s weekly public health report indicated Wareham was seeing roughly 4.55 new cases each day and had a percent positivity rate increased to 5.19 percent. 

As of Dec. 7, Wareham Public Schools reported six students who had tested positive for covid-19, along with 53 students and 19 employees currently quarantined. 

The Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 26 was 14 days ago. Town officials had cautioned that gathering to celebrate with individuals from different households would likely drive an increase in cases.