Updated

Dartmouth back in the yellow as new cases continue downward trend

Feb 19, 2021

A previous version of this story listed the new report as 77 new cases, the data is 70.

For the first time in three months, new Covid cases in town are back in the double digits.

This week, the Board of Health reported 70 new cases — down 40 from the week before and down more than 75% from the 300 reported following the post-holiday surge in January.

The last time time the town was below 100 cases was in the week ending Nov. 6 — when the town reported just 61 new cases.

With the drop, the state now lists Dartmouth down to yellow in the state’s color-coded risk designation system. According to state’s weekly public health report, the town had a 14-day average daily incidence rate of 42.4 per 100,000 people and a 4.49% positivity rate in the past 14 days.

Despite the downward trend, Director of Public Health Christopher Michaud warned residents earlier this month to continue to adhere to social distancing and masking guidelines, as he believes that “transmission is still going on.”

Dartmouth’s public schools — which were closed for winter recess — are currently seeing 257 active cases among students and staff as of Feb. 19, with the illness affecting 7.22% of the student population. Active cases may include those who tested positive and are still isolating from the week before.

Meanwhile, UMass Dartmouth reported seven positive cases in the past week, or 0.65% of all those tested.

As of Feb. 19, Massachusetts has an estimated 37,210 active Covid-19 cases, with 15,409 coronavirus-related deaths reported since the pandemic began.

There have been 536,506 total confirmed cases in the commonwealth thus far, representing nearly 7.8% of the population.