Wareham back down to ‘yellow’ covid-19 risk level

Feb 15, 2021

This story has been updated to include information about the town’s vaccine appointment hotline.

After seeing fewer than 40 new cases of covid-19 in the past week, the town has been reclassified as “yellow” in the state’s Feb. 11 Weekly Public Health Report.

This is the first time the state’s color-coded risk designation for Wareham has changed since early December 2020, when the town was classified “red” during a surge in cases around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

The Feb. 11 report indicated the town had seen 38 new cases in the past week.

Wareham’s Council on Aging staff is also launching a hotline for residents who need help making a covid-19 vaccine appointment. Starting Wednesday, Feb. 17, residents can dial 508-291-3100 Ext. 6530 from 8 a.m. until noon Monday through Friday. Staff will assist with finding a mass vaccination site with openings and booking the appointment.

Wareham’s average daily incidence rate decreased to 29.8 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days. Given Wareham’s population, this means there were about 6.85 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 4 percent over the past 14 days. 

Wareham’s covid numbers have continued to drop over the past few weeks. A week ago, the state’s public health report indicated Wareham was seeing roughly 8.63 new cases each day and had a percent positivity rate of 5.27 percent.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 1,236 coronavirus cases in Wareham.

As of Feb. 8, Wareham Public Schools reported three employees and zero students who had tested positive for covid-19, along with 25 students and eight employees currently quarantined.