Marlborough notes rise in COVID-19 cases

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Marlborough Mayor concerned with Phase two of vaccine rollout.MARLBOROUGH – The number of COVID-19 cases in Marlborough has risen over the last two weeks, with 104 active cases as of Nov. 22, Mayor Arthur Vigeant said in a presentation to the Marlborough City Council on Nov. 22.

Vigeant said that rate had previously spiked to between 120 and 130 cases in the weeks since his last update to the City Council on Nov. 8.

“Obviously everyone’s been watching the news and hearing the updates and we’re not an exception,” Vigeant said. “Our numbers are up.”

Vigeant said that the city, as a whole, had a two week COVID-19 testing positivity rate of 3.58 percent as of Nov. 18.

Nearby Hudson’s rate was 2.84 percent according to the state Department of Public Health. Northborough’s was 2.11 percent while Southborough’s was 2.7 percent.

Westborough’s rate was 1.7 percent as of Nov. 18. Rates in Shrewsbury and Grafton were 2.25 percent and 3.19 percent respectively.

City continues vaccine rollout for children

Vigeant said there were 34 children in Marlborough schools with COVID-19 as of Nov. 22. That marked an increase compared to Nov. 8, when Vigeant reported 16 cases in schools within the city.

Vigeant said that the city held a clinic on Nov. 20 for children ages five to eleven who are now eligible for the vaccine.

“We had 270 doses that we gave out on Saturday,” he said, adding that those partially vaccinated individuals all already have a follow-up date scheduled to receiver their second dose.

Vigeant added that Director of Public Health John Garside is working with Bouvier’s Pharmacy to do another round of booster shots for Marlborough students.

Vigeant said that booster clinics at the Council on Aging and Marlborough Housing had gone well.

He continued, saying that 83 percent of Marlborough had at least one dose, while 73 percent of the city was fully-vaccinated. He specified that these numbers were recorded before that vaccine clinic for young children on Nov. 20.

School Committee to discuss masking

Councilor Mark Oram asked Vigeant, who is also the School Committee Chair, about discussions over mask use in schools.

Though a state mandate remains in place, districts can apply for waivers for individual schools with vaccination rates higher than 80 percent.

Schools in nearby Northborough and Westborough have both received such waivers and begun discussions about possibly relaxing or updating their mask policies.

This matter will be discussed at the Marlborough School Committee’s upcoming meeting on Nov. 23.

“The kids in the schools have been really good,” Vigeant said of students and current masking protocols. “The little kids don’t even know the difference, they’re so used to wearing them at this time.”

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