Following another spike in the numbers of positive COVID-19 tests — 14 cases in the last 14 days — the Town of Lynnfield is back in the red.
Department of Public Health data released Wednesday shows the town now has an average of 8.6 cases per 100,000, prompting the move from yellow to red. This is the second time this month that Lynnfield has been designated as a red community.
Town Administrator Rob Dolan informed the Board of Selectmen Tuesday that there had been 11 positive tests for coronavirus over the last five days.
“We had a surge several weeks back and we were able to bring that down, but this is a dangerous setback. This is an incredible amount of cases in such a short period of time,” Dolan explained at Tuesday’s Selectmen’s meeting. “This is the largest increase we’ve had in the pandemic. These cases have occurred in clusters, so that is what we are most concerned about, especially next week when these numbers show up in the data.”
Tuesday was the first day of in-person learning for Lynnfield students since the district’s recent decision to implement a hybrid-earning model after the town was upgraded from red to yellow last week. If there can be a silver lining, it’s that the schools will remain in hybrid for the immediate future.
“We are following the DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) guidelines and our Emergency Management Team,” said School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman. “Hybrid has been a big success and it’s important to keep it going as long as possible. Our team is confident that because the latest cases appear to be isolated, their feeling is our concerns about prioritizing the health and safety needs of staff and students are being met. When that is no longer the case, we will reconsider.”
Fire Chief Glenn Davis, the town’s Emergency Management Team director, said the town has had a total of 146 confirmed cases representing 106 different addresses and that the town’s death toll now stands at 14. He said his team continues to meet formally every Monday and Thursday mornings and also meets several times a day every day as cases come into the system. Davis said, using contact tracing, the town has not identified any one single large gathering or mass event as the source of any cluster.
“What we are seeing is community-wide spread in small pockets with two or three positives in them from backyard-type gatherings,” Davis said. “None of the positive cases have been in congregant housing or shared housing. Sunrise Living has not had a positive case in the last three months, they are doing great things there in keeping the number of cases down, so this clearly, this is a community neighborhood problem.”
Davis said the town is actively working with MarketStreet management and security to deal with the fact that its Green is a favorite gathering place for large groups of kids.
“We have had some great conversations with MarketStreet and security is doing their best approaching the kids, giving them masks if they don’t have them, and then asking them to disburse,” adding that the management has committed to hire a police detail as soon as possible and that a curfew is being considered so that “kids aren’t hanging around.
“They are working hard with us to try to address that issue and are working closely with the COVID-19 Enforcement and Intervention team, which has found zero red warnings among in-town businesses and establishments, so that’s not the problem,” Davis said.
Davis said people need to continue to be vigilant in following safety guidelines.
Selectman Dick Dalton shared a prepared statement during Tuesday’s meeting.
“(Tuesday) was a great day for Lynnfield with the return to school, so many have worked so hard to make this happen, we saw so many smiling faces,” Dalton said.
“The first surge was due to citizens not following those gathering guidelines. More concerning is this surge isn’t being seen in other towns in our region. This is a Lynnfield problem, plain and simple.
“It’s not the only solution, but the parties and gatherings that do not meet state guidelines have to stop. We were on the right track, but that progress has been lost. We have a problem that we need to solve, but only we as citizens can solve it. Let us start today.”
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].
