First Coronavirus Death In Brookline

BROOKLINE, MA — A Brookline resident has died from the new coronavirus which causes COVID-19, Director of Health and Human Services Dr. Swannie Jett announced Friday. The death mark the town's first related to the virus.

“Today is a day we’d hoped would not come, but unfortunately has, and we all share in the sorrow of losing a member of our community to this illness,” Town Administrator Kleckner said in a statement. “On behalf of the Town, I extend my deepest sympathies to the victim’s family. This is an unfortunate day for our whole community, and a moment where we all should reflect on ways we can continue to support the effort to overcome this pandemic together.”

The news comes as the number of people who have tested positive in town rose to 113, according to Jett. On March 13, the town only had two cases. Statewide the number leapt above 20,000 and the number of deaths neared 500, as of Friday. In Cambridge, which has a population of more than 118,000, there were 209 cases of the virus and one person had died. In Newton, which has a population of around 87,000, there were 264 people who had tested positive for the virus and 12 residents had died. In Boston, 28,012 people had tested positive as of Friday and 34 people had died.

Jett announced the death in an emergency Select Board Meeting Friday evening and did not release any other details about the resident who died, other than that the death was related to COVID-19 and that his department had plans to reach out to the family.

The Brookline Department of Health has a dozen epidemiologists on staff working to determine who has recently interacted with people who have tested positive, so that they can ask anyone who came in contact with them to quarantine, he said.

Jett urged the town to continue efforts - such as wearing masks, not going out, practicing social distancing - to slow the spread of the virus until at least May.

"If we let up on those mitigation efforts, we could stand a chance of another spike and another outbreak," he told the Select Board.

Next week Brookline will have its own testing site in town, according to Jett.

READ MORE:

Coronavirus In Brookline: 2nd Whole Foods Worker Tests Positive

Brookline To Expand Sidewalks To Help Residents Social Distance

WATCH: The emergency select board meeting, courtesy Brookline Interactive Group:

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).