Dover Warns About Holiday Gathering As Coronavirus Cases Increase

DOVER, MA — Dover is one of 121 towns in the state designated as "high risk" for the coronavirus according to data released by the Department of Public Health on Thursday.

A community is designated "high risk" if it reports more than eight average daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks.

Dover reported seven new COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, bringing its total case count to 35 positive cases. According to the DPH, Dover's average daily incidence rate is 9.6 per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days.

State rules mean that communities must go three weeks without being high-risk in order to move on to the next phase of reopening. Towns were marked high-risk, or red, if they reported more than eight average daily confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. Towns that spent three weeks high-risk after reopening must revert to the previous step.

The town said the Public Health Nurse is actively working with the cases on contact tracing and identifying the source of infection and determined that there is no need for contact tracing in the schools given the specifics of the cases.

The town used the increase in COVID-19 cases as a warning for residents to re-evaluate their holiday plans.

"This is a very important time for Dover residents to limit their social contacts as much as possible in order to limit their risk of COVID transmission. Please consider this as you make plans for Halloween and Thanksgiving," the town said.