Published in the December 11, 2020 edition.
WAKEFIELD — The numbers have been creeping up steadily for some time, each weekly report from the state Department of Public Health showing Wakefield’s COVID-19 positivity percentage and average daily positive incidence rate to be higher than the week before.
The town was able to stay in the yellow designation of COVID risk for several weeks, but with yesterday’s report Wakefield has gone up to the highest risk red category for the first time in over a month.
According to the latest figures from the state, the town has had 813 total positive COVID cases since officials began keeping track earlier this year, with an average daily positive incidence rate of 48.47 over the last 14 days, well above the 25 needed to push a community into the red category. There have been 208 positive tests confirmed out of the 3,639 tests taken in the past two weeks. The positivity percent is 5.72.
In the schools, 50 students and 14 staff members have tested positive for coronavirus since September.
