Dartmouth sees uptick in Covid cases in the last week

Sep 26, 2020

After a summer of low coronavirus numbers, it seems the uptick in Covid cases affecting much of the rest of the country has finally made its way to Dartmouth.

In a statement published Sept. 25, the Board of Health revealed that there have been 18 new coronavirus cases in town in the past week, up from just eight new cases the week before.

This brings the total number of positive cases in Dartmouth to 494 since the pandemic began in the spring.

Over the summer, new case numbers remained for the most part in the single digits.

New England states were generally able to keep their numbers low over the summer while the rest of the country experienced a deadly surge that has brought the total number of cases in the US to over seven million, with 204,000 deaths from the virus reported so far. Experts have warned that as the weather cools, a new surge in cases is likely.

Meanwhile UMass Dartmouth reports six new positive cases this week, bringing the total number of positive cases to 18 since term started Sept. 1.

It is unclear how many of those cases are Dartmouth residents. Covid-positive students residing on campus must quarantine in special rooms set aside for the purpose, while commuting students who test positive are required to quarantine at home, according to a university spokesperson.

In Massachusetts, there have been 127,317 positive cases as of Sept. 25, or 1.87% of the state’s population. 9,160 people have died of the virus in the state since the pandemic began.