Despite Department of Health direction, Fall River, Swansea announce new positive COVID-19 cases

If you are interested in knowing how many cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in a particular Massachusetts city or town, you are now out of luck.

Or so we thought.

Fall River’s Director of Health and Human Services, Tess Curran, stated in an 11:00 a.m. press conference at Government Center that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has directed cities and towns to no longer release new case count numbers of COVID-19.

However, this afternoon, both Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan, and the Town of Swansea have announced a new positive test for their respective locations.

The Swansea resident, who is the third positive case in the town, is currently isolated at home. Contacts of the patient have been notified and are adhering to DPH orders for quarantine so as to limit further possibilities of transmission, according to the town.

Coogan announced on social media this afternoon that Fall River has a fourth confirmed case.

Marylou Sudders, the Secretary of Health and Human Services for Massachusetts, stated today in a press conference that the state is trying to balance public health and individual privacy and wants to avoid the possibility of people getting bullied. She stated that individuals that had tested positive had previously been outed on Facebook and persecuted.