Newton Coronavirus Case Count Rises Again

NEWTON, MA — Cases of the coronavirus in Newton are edging closer to 100 per week.

The city has had 95 people test positive in the past week, bringing the number of people who have tested positive for the virus since March to 1,302. Of those 148 people have died.

Last week 50 people tested positive and the week before that 44 people tested positive cases between Oct. 28 and Nov. 5.

"Clearly, we’re continuing to see an increase in cases and the increase is significant," said Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller.

The number of people who have tested positive has been rising each month since June. And the first half of November has seen the highest number of cases in the month since April, when the cases hit a city record of 507. So far in November the city has had 165 test positive for the virus. In September the city had 94 cases. In October, Newton had 152.

There were eight additional positive cases in the Newton Public Schools this week. Three are in-person hybrid learning students, two were in person staff and three remote students, according to school data.

The case increase is reflected in Newton’s average daily incidence rate.

With 9.1 people per 100,000 testing positive during the past two weeks, Newton is once again in the green group, which is the state designation for communities where the average number of new cases per day is less than 10 per 100,000 people.

Boston's rate, meanwhile is 31.5, Brookline's is 10.9, Waltham's is 21.9 and Wellesley's is 13.7.

This comes as Gov. Charlie Baker is bringing back field hospitals and has urged people to stick to household celebrations for Thanksgiving, pointing to the state's Thanksgiving guidelines.

The recent long lines at COVID-19 test sites suggest people may brushing that advice aside. Wait times at some drive-thru sites have been as high as five hours.

Read more: Massachusetts Really Wants This Thanksgiving To Be Different

Newton-Wellesley Hospital Restricts Visitors As Cases Rise

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how .