Waltham To Release Coronavirus Numbers Again, After Confusion

WALTHAM, MA — Waltham will once again be releasing the number of people who have tested positive for the new coronavirus, after getting conflicting information from the state Health Department, Mayor Jeannette McCarthy announced Thursday.

As of Thursday, 77 Waltham residents had tested positive for the coronavirus and one person had died, the city announced. McCarthy said names or identifying information and addresses of patients cannot be released.

"We were in contact with the State about releasing the number of COVID-19 positives to the public as we had been doing up until Friday March 27, 2020, when we were advised we could no longer do it," McCarthy said in a release. "This morning the State apologized for the mixed messages and stated that it is up to cities and towns to release the numbers or not. "

While Massachusetts Department of Health can and has advised municipalities about best practices and things to consider, it has no authority to require municipalities not to publish numbers, and may have been merely reiterating privacy law.

On Friday at a press conference with the governor, Massachusetts Secretary for Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders expounded and acknowledged that community members want to know the numbers in their own municipalities. She advised against sharing status about particular individual - lest they experience bullying.

"So what I'm telling you is that it's a very constant conversation that we're having," she said, before adding "There would be nothing to preclude a local board of health from saying we have 15 positive cases in their community."

But mayors across the state said that during two conference calls with the DPH, one over the weekend and one this week, they got the impression they were not at liberty to share case counts, including in Waltham.

Critics of the city withholding the numbers said knowing how many people in the city had contracted the virus helped hammer home how serious the issue was here.

In a statement sent to Patch Monday, a spokesperson from DPH said communities were at liberty to share the numbers.

"The decision to share case counts is the responsibility of a city or town," a Massachusetts Department of Health spokesperson said in a statement to Patch. "DPH recommends that local boards of health respect the privacy and confidentiality of residents when providing case counts."

Each morning, Monday through Friday Waltham City officials will release the number of cases recovered, the number of positive cases, and the number of deaths.

As of Thursday, April 2:
Recovered: 14
Positives: 77
Number of Deaths: 1

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