For the first time since the pandemic began, Wareham has seen its case count rise by more than a hundred cases in a single week. The town reported 112 new cases of covid-19 in the past seven days, according to the state’s weekly public health report. 

By reporting 112 new cases this week, Wareham surpassed its previous record high — that was set with the release of last week’s report on Dec. 10 — of 84 new cases in a week. 

According to the state’s most recent weekly report released Thursday, Dec. 17, Wareham’s average daily incidence rate jumped to 50.2 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days. Given Wareham’s population, this means there were about 11.55 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 8.26 percent over the last 14 days. 

The increase in cases and the rising percent positivity rate kept Wareham classified “red” per the state’s guidelines — the same category the town has fallen into since Dec. 3.

A week ago, the state’s public health report indicated Wareham was seeing roughly 7.61 new cases each day and had a percent positivity rate of 7.73 percent.

Additionally, as of Dec. 14, Wareham Public Schools reported seven students and one employee who had tested positive for covid-19, along with 36 students and 21 employees currently quarantined.