Seven more city employees have tested positive for COVID-19 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, including four firefighters, the city's mayor announced.
Mayor Paul Heroux said that outside the four firefighters, the three additional cases occurred in employees outside City Hall.
Heroux also said he as approved an 'injured on duty,' designation to allow the four firefighters to receive benefits because all of them were working the same shift at the same fire house.
"There is a reasonable link between all four getting COVID and getting it at work. That’s why I will approve these as ‘injured on duty,'" Heroux said. "I wish all employees a speedy and smooth recovery process as possible."
Heroux approved the same designation for nine other firefighters who contracted the virus almost two months ago. Since March, 17 out of 18 firefighters have been approved as injured on duty.
One firefighter was admitted to Sturdy Memorial Hospital with severe symptoms of the illness earlier this week.
Heroux urged people not to succumb to coronavirus fatigue and to take proper coronavirus precautions including wearing masks, maintaining social distance, hand washing and avoiding crowds.
Attleboro is among 62 communities considered high-risk for transmitting COVID-19 in the state's latest weekly community-level data on the pandemic.
State data shows there have been 230 new cases and 251 positive tests in Attleboro over the past two weeks for a total of 1,290 cases. The positivity rate has reached 6.38%.
