For the third week in a row, the number of new cases of covid-19 in Wareham has decreased. The town saw 17 new cases of covid-19 in the past week and remains classified in the “yellow” covid-19 risk category, according to data from the state’s May 13 Weekly Public Health Report.

Wareham’s average daily incidence rate decreased to 13.9 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days. Given Wareham’s population, this means there were about 3.2 new cases each day over the past two weeks.

Wareham has also seen a percent positivity rate — or the percentage of covid-19 tests performed that come back positive — of 2.52 percent over the last 14 days. 

A week ago, the state’s public health report indicated Wareham was seeing roughly 5.64 new cases each day and had a percent positivity rate of 4.6 percent. 

The town was recategorized “yellow” by the state on May 6. Prior to returning to “yellow,” Wareham had been classified “red” since April 8. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 1,713 coronavirus cases in Wareham. 

As of May 17, Wareham Public Schools reported five students and zero employees currently positive for covid-19, along with 14 students and one employee currently quarantined.

This story has been updated to reflect more recent May 17 data on covid-19 from Wareham Public Schools.