Town Administrator Tom Mayo and Assistant Town Administrator Michelle Monsegur provided the following COVID-19 updates at the Board of Selectmen Meeting on October 20, 2020
- As of today, the MA Department of Public Health (DPH) is reporting 142,295 confirmed cases in Massachusetts, of which 10,786 are in Plymouth County.
- As you know, Hingham became a “red” community last Wednesday, October 14th. As of that day, DPH was reporting 371 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hingham, with an average daily case rate over the previous 14 days of 9.9 per 100,000 population.
- This past week was our first week in the “red” category. The Town takes this designation very seriously. DPH has informed us that they will consider Hingham to be “high risk” if we remain in red for three consecutive weeks.
- A prolonged period in the “red” category could negatively impact our local economy and our ability to enjoy many of the sectors and activities that have cautiously reopened over the past few months.
- The Hingham Health Department continues to work with the state’s Community Tracing Collaborative to conduct contract tracing to help accelerate our efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. We are also working closely with state epidemiologists.
- As we mentioned last week, we are seeing an uptick in cases in the youth sports community, leading to many teams being quarantined in town. This also affects parents and other family members of participants as we are seeing household spread of COVID-19.
- So far, these cases have not resulted in large-scale impacts to Hingham Public Schools as students in Hingham Public Schools remain at least six feet apart in classrooms. However, should social distancing in classrooms change (decrease), COVID-19 cases and students subject to quarantine could rise as they have in some other schools where social distancing is not able to be practiced to the same degree.
- Please remember that if you are contacted by the Hingham Health Department or State’s Contact Tracing Team, please answer the phone to discuss quarantine, your symptoms, and your close contacts.
- If you are subject to a quarantine, a negative test will not lift the quarantine. You must remain home for the 14-day period and refrain from engaging in school, sports, work, and other activities.
- We are asking all residents, businesses, and visitors to please be vigilant in following state and federal COVID-19 recommendations, especially as they relate to social distancing and face coverings.