Milford Cautions Against Christmas Gatherings Due To Coronavirus

MILFORD, MA — The Milford Board of Health has a message for local residents: think about canceling your Christmas plans, if you have them.

The health board has released a chart showing how cases spiked in Milford following Halloween and Thanksgiving. For example, following Thanksgiving, Milford went from adding 40 new cases per day per 100,000 people to adding over 70 new cases per day two weeks later.

The health board is advising local residents to stick to gatherings with people in your immediate household only.

"Any group larger than your household puts everyone in your community at risk of COVID-19," the Board of Health said in a news release.

Milford has been on an upward trajectory for most of the fall. Milford was first deemed a high-risk community in mid-October. On Nov. 5, the state introduced new metrics to determine whether a community is high-risk, so Milford left the list. But by Nov. 13, the town was back with data showing Milford adding 30 new cases per day per 100,000 residents, and a positive test rate of 5.85 percent.

By Dec. 17, Milford was adding 71.8 new cases per 100,000 residents, and the town-wide positivity rate had nearly doubled to 10.28 percent, according to the state Department of Public Health.