Hey, there! Log in / Register
Dedham postpones plans for in-school teaching after state colors it red on Covid-19 map; officials think new cases might be linked to two recent parties
By adamg on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 12:49pm
Dedham has put off a Sept. 21 start date to resume limited in-school education, and will now be getting a three-day visit from a mobile Covid-19 testing unit now that the state has added the town to its list of communities with elevated testing numbers.
Board of Health Chairwoman Leanne Jassett says it looks like the town's latest numbers are the result of "two recent gatherings of young people in town, including a party attended by high school students, which have resulted in two clusters of positive cases."
The state Department of Public Health added the town to its high-risk list yesterday, reporting the town has a current positive test rate of 2.65% - compared to a statewide rate of slightly under 1%, and 0.34% in neighboring Needham. The state reported an average daily incident rate of 9.74 people per 100,000 in Dedham, compared to 1.71 in Needham.
Town officials say that remote learning for local public-school students will begin on Sept. 16 as planned, but that letting students return to school on Sept. 21 has been put off indefinitely.
In a statement this morning, Jassett and Town Manager Leon Goodwin said they expect a state mobile-testing unit to arrive in town within the next few days to provide free tests for residents. The specific location and hours have yet to be announced, but they encouraged residents to get ready for a test. "We are encouraging as many people to get tested as possible," both to provide care to people who test positive and to begin trying to track and contact people who might have been in close contact with them.
Jassett added that even people who had no direct contact with people at the two parties should consider getting tested:
While it is believed that these clusters are the cause of the recent rise in positive cases, the increase means that it is imperative for residents to get tested now so health officials will have the best possible understanding of the current COVID-19 situation in our community.
Neighborhoods:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Too much testing causing bottlenecks -- The NY Times
Let's get over the "test, test, test" nonsense which is causing bottlenecks and preventing clinicians from identifying the contagious. Clearly, widespread testing does more harm than good. The CDC now admits (and statistics prove) that most cases are mild, non-contagious and only fatal to the very old and infirm. While every life matters, experts concede that the majority of those who've died from Covid-19 would have died this year anyway. It was a good effort but the left won't be able to extend the panic through November 3. As he finally allows some indoor dining, Governor Cuomo's actions now match his earlier words, "the facts don't justify the fear." It appears that Governor Baker will dutifully follow along and lift some of the MA restaurant restrictions. Too little, too late for many.
Here are the facts
Apoorva Mandavilli is an excellent reporter.
No, if everyone could get tested and quickly get their results it would be much easier to know who is infected and isolate them.
True.
False. The difficult part about COVID is that the majority of people will have no symptoms, but still be very infectious.
False. Let's see your citation for that one.
What panic? All I see is a pandemic that isn't going away until there is a vaccine and enough people using it.
Actually...
...here's the article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html
It is well written and informative, I guess, but if it doesn't shake your faith in the current testing regimen, then you ain't reading the right paragraphs.
"“I’m really shocked that it could be that high — the proportion of people with high C.T. value results,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “Boy, does it really change the way we need to be thinking about testing.”"
"experts concede that the majority of those who've died from Covid-19 would have died this year anyway.
False. Let's see your citation for that one. "
Well, since the Commonwealth Dashboard stopped classifying by age, a current age-related statistic is difficult to discern from that data base. Before they stopped (and I have no idea why) the average age of a C-19 death was either 82 or 86. So, probably high comorbidity rate? Probably. 98.3% had 'underlying conditions'. So, preponderance of the Commonwealth's data suggests that Fish, as much as you hate it, is totally on the money.
I'm sure you feel better
I'm sure you feel better believing that. Too bad that research is showing that even asymptomatic cases ARE STILL CONTAGIOUS. Maybe they aren't coughing on you since they don't have symptoms, but they're also not quarantining and so may interact with many more people.
(When will I learn not to feed the trolls? Apparently never.)
https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2020/08/10/asymptomatic
Just a possibility...
I'm thinking that it's not just the mean viral load in a person specifically, but the symptoms that make a person more or less contagious.
If they are not coughing or sneezing and they are wearing masks or distancing outdoors then the currently accepted regimen seems to indicate that it's fairly safe.
I addressed that in my
I addressed that in my comment- they're less likely to be coughing, but if they don't know they have it they're more likely to be out and about where they could potentially spread it.
I addressed that in my comment
I addressed that in my comment: "... they are wearing masks or distancing outdoors then the currently accepted regimen seems to indicate that it's fairly safe."
We've been told that social distancing and masks makes it OK.
Are we backtracking on that?
I'm sure you don't believe
I'm sure you don't believe everyone is following the guidelines, or we wouldn't still be in this mess.
At this point
I'm starting to believe Fish is just a sophisticated bot Adam's created in order to increase engagement in the form of clicks and comments on any given news story. Feed in Drudge Report/The Blaze headlines, output wall of text, no human intelligence needed.
If only I were that good with programming
Alas, I am not. About the best I can do is write some code to generate and display a random number.
But is it a true random
But is it a true random number?
Good question
It's using the PHP random-number generator, so reasonably random. I've only used it for displaying one of X ads or messages on a page, not for security purposes, so have never really had to know for sure.
That's the problem...
Dilbert
Product of another batshit crazy self-defined victim.
Question
What is the viral load of SARS-COVID-2 when a person could be a carrier and contagious? Get that info and a means of easily determining how much virus a person has in them and you’ve got a new way to handle testing. Otherwise, we’re stuck with what we have now.
Sorry, I have a second question. You read the New York Times?
Maybe it's linked
from the Pax Centurion and other white supremacist newsletters?
Classic tactic
It's like when online commenters find a pro-Trump or anti-Biden nugget from CNN to convince the libs that everything else they are saying must be true.
"Read" is a broad term
Pretty clear that he viewed it and went cherrypicking, but didn't actually grasp the content or the actual things the article was saying.
Much easier to sound sciency with lots of scientism than it is to actually read science and understand science. Particularly when the qoolaid agenda is strong.
DNFTT
Just in case anybody wondered if your quote of this NYT article was sincere/good faith, the text immediately following reads:
"But researchers say the solution is not to test less, or to skip testing people without symptoms...Instead, new data underscore the need for more widespread use of rapid tests, even if they are less sensitive."
Trying this again
Since you didn't answer last time.
Why do you think the "very old and infirm" are disposable?
Co vid/Dedham
Today I went to Brookside Comm Ctr where testing was ongoing. Lots of applicants.
Where and when are Dedham students getting tested? Lots of discussion of situational exposure but neglected to show town's schedule. There are medical offices that give the results w/in one day at the cost of $165.
Cherrypicked quote
Context matters. Reading the entire article is important when it says the opposite of your apparently intentionally deceptive and misleading quote.
MILD?
Oh, I'm so glad you declared that most cases are mild. I'll be sure to tell my 35 year old friend, who had no pre-existing conditions and is in excellent shape, who contacted COVID in March and has "recovered" but STILL has trouble breathing every day because of it and needs to use an inhaler (despite never having asthma before).
Then I'll hire a psychic medium to talk to a college friend who's 29 and died of COVID earlier this year. She did have asthma though, so I guess to you that makes her infirm and good riddance, right?
You're such a frickin' idiot Fishy and I despise your lack of empathy and complete and utter denial of the truth.
I'm sorry
COVID sucks and I'm sorry that your friends have been especially affected.
Really?
Stay in your lane pops. You really suck at this public health thing, we all know it, and it would just be better if you STFU and stopped peddling half truths, fake news, and conspiracy theories.
Trump suborns the CDC
We can no longer have confidence that the CDC is giving us the truth. Sad.
Red
This gives new meaning to the phrase "painting the town red".