Watertown Has a Third Positive Test for Coronavirus

Watertown has a third positive test for Coronavirus, the Watertown Health Department announced Thursday, with the second case coming over the weekend.

The Health Department said it cannot release information about the people who tested positive for COVID-19, including where they live and work. They said they are trying to track any people they may have been in contact with.

In the statement about the second Watertown case, the Health Department indicated that the person had no link to the Watertown Public Schools. The announcement about the third case did not have that information (See the announcement farther below). Town Council President Mark Sideris said as of noon Thursday that information about the third person, including ties to the town schools, has not been released.

See the latest Coronavirus updates from the Watertown Health Department by clicking here: https://www.watertown-ma.gov/965/CORONAVIRUS

The number of cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts jumped by 72 on Thursday, up to 328, according to the March 19 release from the Mass. Department of Public Health. and Middlesex County had 119 cases (the most of any county). As for the origin, 97 were related to the Biogen conference, 34 were travel related, and 46 were from “local transmission.” The others are still under investigation.

The Mass. State Public Health Laboratory has tested 2,208 people, and 261 tested positive. Others were tested by LabCorp (699 tests, 29 positive) and Quest Diagnostics (225 tested, 12 positive). Twenty-six more positive tests were tested at other facilities, and the MassDPH did not have the number of tests administered for those labs.

As of March 17, the Bay State has 2,054 people who have been, or who are currently, quarantined for possible Coronavirus exposure, with 1,168 currently under quarantine.

Nationwide, as of March 18, 7,038 people tested positive for COVID-19, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), as of March 18. However, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center put the number of cases in the United States at 10,755, as of 12:45 p.m. Thursday. Worldwide the number of cases is 229,289, with the U.S. having the sixth most cases. Worldwide there have been 9,324 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins, with 103 in the U.S. (none in Massachusetts), while 84,557 people worldwide have recovered (106 in the U.S.)

The Health Department sent out the following information about the third case on Thursday.:

The Watertown Health Department was notified of our third confirmed case of COVID-19. We do understand that COVID-19 causes a great deal of anxiety of the community and like to be as transparent as we can, due to HIPPA regulations we can not share locations, or other identifying information associated with any of the confirmed or contact cases. We like to assure you that we conduct “contact tracing” of confirmed or suspect COVID-19 and advise those close contacts to self-quarantine for 14 days since the last day of exposure.

​As the health department receives many calls regarding testing for COVID-19, these questions should be directed to 2 – 1 – 1 the State COVID-19 information line or your physician who can evaluate your health status and symptoms and determine if you meet the criteria for COVID-19 testing.

To keep our community as healthy as possible we need your help.

• ​Take your temperature daily and stay home when you have a fever.
• Wash your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds with water and soap
• Cover your cough and sneeze and wash hands afterwards, if no soap and water is immediately available using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Clean and disinfect high impact surfaces frequently.
• Maintain social distancing.

For more information about COVID-19 in Watertown click here https://www.watertown-ma.gov/965/CORONAVIRUS