Student COVID cases show big increase as South Shore numbers rise for 7th straight week

QUINCY – With the number of COVID-19 cases rising for the seventh straight week, locally and statewide, some officials are asking residents to mask up.

The Abington Board of Health this week issued an advisory to residents and visitors to wear masks while indoors and at public locations when physical distancing is not possible, regardless of vaccination status.

"The increased virulence (of the virus and its variants) and its high ability to infect, even those vaccinated in some cases, means that masking and distancing are strongly recommended at this time," the statement read. "Please keep your safety, and the safety of those around you in mind."

Abington High School Principal Jonathan Bourn reported "numerous" COVD-19 cases identified among attendees of the April 29 Abington High School prom.

In Milton, the select board Wednesday night postponed the start of town meeting until June 6 so that it could be held remotely, due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

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Milton School Superintendent James Jette reminded parents and guardians to screen their children daily for COVID-19 symptoms. If any are present, the students should stay home until they test negative, Jette said in his weekly email newsletter.

For the week ending Wednesday, 73 students and 12 staff members have contracted COVID-19. Almost three-quarters of the student cases are in the elementary grades. Milton Public Schools has an enrollment of about 4,350 students.

In the 23 communities on the South Shore, the number of COVID-19 cases in the two weeks ending May 7 rose to 2,668, the Department of Public Health reported in its weekly listing of cases by city and town. That is an increase of 30.2% from 2,049 the week before. Case counts rose in every community except Holbrook, where they fell.

The state counts only include lab-confirmed cases, not ones found with home test kits.

Hanover and Hingham had rates higher than the statewide average of 41.7 cases per day per 100,000 people. Milton had a rate equal to the state's.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reported Thursday 13,380 students tested positive for COVID-19 in the week ending Wednesday, almost two-thirds more than the prior week. This represents 1.5% of the approximately 920,000 students in grades K-12.

There were 4,043 positive cases among staff, the education agency said.

Rising case numbers have caused some schools in other parts of the state to bring back mask requirements.

In Thursday's daily report, the state health department reported 5,576 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 1,659,250 for the 28 months of the pandemic.

The number of people in hospitals with COVID-19 is also up, with 728 patients compared to 547 the week before. There were 66 people in intensive care units, up from 45 a week before, and 27 people on breathing equipment, up from 18 a week before.

There were 16 new deaths reported on Thursday, bringing the pandemic total for the state to 19,243. A total of 62 deaths were reported in the past week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates the community levels of COVID-19 in both Norfolk and Plymouth counties as high, and recommends wearing masks indoors in public places and on public transportation.

The number of COVID-19 cases nationally has passed 82 million, according to the CDC, with 996,376 deaths from the virus during the pandemic.

The agency lists 83.5% of Massachusetts residents over the age of 5 as fully vaccinated.

The following is a list of the number of cases by community for the two weeks ending May 7, the average daily rate of cases per 100,000 people over the two-week period and the total number of cases since the pandemic began. The statistics do not include the results of home tests.

Abington: 74 cases; 29 rate; 3,968 total

Braintree: 190 cases; 34.2 rate; 9,157 total

Carver: 41 cases; 23.9 rate; 2,267 total

Cohasset: 39 cases; 37.9 rate; 1,215 total

Duxbury: 64 cases; 30.2 rate; 2,615 total

Halifax: 27 cases; 25.2 rate; 1,507 total

Hanover: 85 cases; 42.2 rate; 4,216 total

Hanson: 31 cases; 20.6 rate; 2,292 total

Hingham:142 cases; 42.3 rate; 4,438 total

Holbrook: 41 cases; 25.8 rate; 2,680 total

Hull: 42 cases; 30.6 rate, 1,413 total.

Kingston: 46 cases; 24 rate; 2,956 total.

Marshfield: 109 cases; 30 rate; 4,527 total

Milton: 168 cases; 41.7 rate; 6,041 total

Norwell: 59 cases; 39.3 rate; 2,167 total

Pembroke: 85 cases; 32.3 rate; 3,721 total

Plymouth: 225 cases; 25.6 rate; 13,500 total

Quincy: 584 cases; 41.1 rate; 19,291 total

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Randolph: 189 cases; 39.2 rate; 9,861 total

Rockland: 65 cases; 25.7 rate; 4,387 total

Scituate: 62 cases; 24.5 rate; 3,004 total

Weymouth: 244 cases; 31 rate; 12,181 total

Whitman: 56 cases; 25.7 rate; 3,424 total

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: More COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on the South Shore