Barnstable Remains High Risk For Coronavirus With 405 New Cases

BARNSTABLE, MA — For a second straight week, Barnstable was in the high-risk, or red designation, for coronavirus spread, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

The town's positive test rate over the last two weeks spiked to 10.2 percent, up from 7.49 percent in last week's report.

There were 405 cases in the last two weeks, and Barnstable averaged 64.6 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the entire state. According to the state, 3,540 Barnstable residents have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

>>MA Town-By-Town Coronavirus Stats: Positive Test Rate Above 2%

The most recent spike has also had a negative impact on Barnstable Public Schools.

Last week, the district was notified of 45 cases across all nine school in the district. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, another 28 cases were reported in the schools. There's also 260 staff and students in quarantine as close contacts and 60 staff and students in isolation with COVID-19, Mayo-Brown said. This has also forced Barnstable Public School to go fully remote for at least Thursday and Friday and for the wrestling team's season to be canceled.

Massachusetts labeled 32 communities as high risk for the coronavirus Thursday in the latest town-by-town report from the Department of Public Health, up from 20 the week before.

The seven-day average positive test rate for the state rose to 2.22 percent, up from 1.93 percent a week prior. To date, there have been 586,298 cases and 16,671 deaths statewide since the pandemic began. Officials estimated there were 28,078 active cases as of Thursday.