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Daily Massachusetts coronavirus case number jumps to nearly 1,500
By adamg on Fri, 10/30/2020 - 4:21pm
The state reported 1,488 new Covid-19 cases today, up from 1,243 the day before - and 708 on Oct. 1.
That brings the official seven-day state positivity rate to 1.9%, up from 1.1% on Oct. 1, based on the total number of tests given. But the daily positivity rate for the past week - for the percentage of people who test positive - is now averaging above 6%.
The number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 today was reported as 571 statewide, compared to 432 on Oct. 1.
The number of deaths reported was 23.
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Comments
Get all the students out of
Get all the students out of here on the next bus. They are killing us.
No they're not
If you really care, I can post links to the the Covid-19 dashboards for the larger local colleges. Aside from that one cluster at BC a few weeks back, they all are doing really well - positivity rates well below 1% (compared to well above 7% for Boston citywide).
Incomplete data
Agree that colleges have low test positivity rates.
However much of that data is incomplete or even biased.
For instance, Harvard only publishes results of their screening tests. They do not publicly report results for anyone who is symptomatic or being traced from a known Covid contact. These are obviously more likely to be positive and can be better compared to community rates (where most people get tested because they have symptoms or a known exposure.)
See footnote 2 here: https://www.harvard.edu/coronavirus/harvard-university-wide-covid-19-tes...
This doesn’t mean that colleges are definitely the problem. But it’s hard to prove that they’re not when the info isn’t public.
Ok we will have them all sent
Ok we will have them all sent off right away at your demand. You know best. What else would you like Mr. President?
Ironic username?
Not sure our Republican President is willing to admit that anyone is dying from Covid right now.
We're rounding the turn.
“Until November 4th., Fake News Media is going full on Covid, Covid, Covid,” Trump tweeted early Tuesday morning, adding “We are rounding the turn. 99.9%,”
Donald J. Trump 10/27/2020
EVERYBODY just said to heck
EVERYBODY just said to heck with it and travelled on Labor Day. All the traffic measures showed Boston was approaching pre-pandemic travel. Especially people 40-50 with stay cooped up and work from home jobs decided to go wherever was open "one last time" before the inevitable winter shut down. Young professionals in Southie have been having non-stop house parties. Kids came back to school too, sure, and everything is just that much more crowded again after a summer of a relatively empty city.
Eight weeks later, here we are.
Fatigue
Based on the comments (or lack thereof) for the past five or so stories, I wonder if that "Covid Fatigue" we hear about is real and affects us this way, too.
It's possible, but not likely, JohnAKeith.
The fact that there are far too damned many irresponsible people who refuse to abide by the rules for mask wearing and social distancing, and against having large gatherings of people, either indoors or outdoors, and refuse to social distance, even in bars and restaurants, and the fact that a lot of college students who are old enough to know better and understand why the rules are implemented, and the consequences to themselves, their friends/ neighbors and families, and to take the consequences of violating such rules.
You just described fatigue
People who have avoided social gatherings for months are now saying, "fuck it" and deciding it's worth the risk. People see the fatality rate per case decreasing and figuring they'll take the 1-1000 chance they'll die if they get the virus.
I'm not suggesting these people are justified but it's unrealistic to think people won't start taking chances when they perceive their personal risk is low.
It also doesn't help to have a president who claims he's living proof an infection isn't serious.
I disagree with you here, BostonDog.
Fatigue is absolutely no excuse, especially among adults, including college students who are old enough to understand why these rules are put in place, to realize that there are certain consequences to violating them, and to accept those consequences if they insist on being irresponsible. Fatigue, imho, is absolutely no excuse. Younger people under 30 have been coming down with Covid-19, becoming seriously ill or permanently incapacitated, either cardio-vasculally, neurologically, or even having permanent lung problems as a result, and even dying from Covid19 outright.
Moreover, they don't just put themselves at risk, but they put their families, friends, neighbors, and people of all ages in communities where they live/ go to school at risk, as well. Colleges and universities should get way, way tougher on students who violate those rules, and kick them out for awhile.
I'll also add this: The very fact that so many people are being so damned irresponsible and taking such cavalier attitudes towards this Covid-19 pandemic is precisely why the pandemic is so rampant and so out of control here in the United States, and many of the European countries, as well.
Where did I say it was justified?
I specifically said it was not justified. (As in, not a valid excuse.)
There are a lot of people in this state and country who are of the belief that no harm will come of their actions. It's extremely hard to convince someone to stay home or wear a mask if they think COVID-19 is not a serious problem.
Younger people under 30 have
Scary anecdotal data is trumped by less scary stastistical data. For healthy white people under 30, risks are far lower. Serious complications are outliers.
Serious complications of Covid-19 are NOT outliers, Refugee.
Even just afew younger, healthier people without other medical conditions, including children, are too goddamned many, Rufugee. You're willing to just simply write the fact that younger people have become seriously ill, died from Covid-19, or if they recovered, were permanently damaged, neurologically, or have permanent lung or heart damage.
I'll tell you this: I read a rather horrific story of how a 12 year old kid (yup, you read right--a 12-year-old kid) had such a serious case of Covid-19 that she ended up on a ventilator, and she has little or no chance of surviving.
Frankly, Refugee, I really don' t give a shit what you say or think. More and more younger people are coming down with Covid-19 because they've acted so goddamned irresponsibly, going into bars, etc., crowding together, and refusing to wear masks, not to mention college students who insist on large parties and no masks.
Serious complications in
Serious complications in young and healthy are absolutely an outlier. Stop buying into the scary media.
Getting hit by a train is an outlier too
Getting hit by a train is an outlier. I still don't stop my automobile on the tracks.
yes
People need to acknowledge that something can be rare AND still something to take seriously.
...and *PREVENTABLE*.
Just to build on what you are already saying, BostonDog.
I stand by everything I've said, Republican.
It's people like you who are also helping to contribute to the uptick in Covid-19 cases. A lot of healthy younger people have been coming down with it, whether you and your fellow Trumpians believe it or not.
You’re confusing statistics
With anecdotes.
Long live truthiness!
I'll also add this, BostonDog:
The fact that so many people, even those who despise Donald Trump, are acting a great deal like him in that respect is dangerously unhelpful--and asinine, to boot, and it smacks of huge hypocrisy.
Moreover, Donald Trump has emboldened these spoiled, selfish, entitled, willfully ignorant and inconsiderate brats. He's brought out the absolute worst in people. If people want to prove that they're really and truly against Donald Trump, instead of acting as he does, they should act the opposite way and obey these Covid-19 pandemic rules, rather than violate them, and then start kicking, screaming and throwing tantrums when they end up being punished as a consequence of violating them.
college students who ..
College students do understand the consequences to themselves, which is that COVID is as dangerous to them as the seasonal flu is. Any sane discussion about COVID needs to account for the fact that COVID's impact is greatly dependent on age. The discussion also needs to acknowledge that the lockdown's impact is also dependent on age.
I don't think it makes sense to chastise youth for making rational decisions about themselves.
Again, I disagree, Refugee.
College students are adults. 18-20 year olds, for example, are old enough to vote, sign legal, binding contracts, get married/buy a houe/receive medical treatment without parental consent, serve in the military, and, if arrested, are also old enough to be tried for and charged with whatever they are arrested for in an adult court of law, as opposed to a juvenile court. Therefore, since they're old enough to do all those above-mentioned things, they're old enough to understand why the rules for mask-wearing and social distancing, and against having large gathering of people in one place, either indoors or outdoors. Things can only get worse, as the weather gets colder and people hole up indoors more, thus giving Covid-19 even more of an opportunity to spread. Also, people with Covid-19 can also be asymptomatic, and still spread the virus, despite not coughing or sneezing, because talking, shouting, laughing and singing also produce enough spittle to spread the virus.
If you think that college students should have more liberty and license to do whatever the hell they please just because of their ages, you're dead shit-assed wrong, Refugee. Those kids from Northeastern and BU who got kicked out of school for violating the rules and lost part of their tuition deserved exactly what they got. No sympathy.
About Covid Fatigue
"Based on the comments (or lack thereof) for the past five or so stories, I wonder if that "Covid Fatigue" we hear about is real and affects us this way, too."
I don't think so. I pasted a couple of graphs not too long ago concerning the MWRA uptick. Here's the latest from the MWRA site:
I compared this to the MA dashboard from April 21. The current viral load seems to be in the vicinity of the late April spike. What's it mean? I dunno. As many people are shedding virus as in the spring, I guess.
But, there appear to be a LOT less, like by a factor of eight or so, fatalities between last week's 17 and the April 21 number of 152. Granted, there's a time lag of a couple of weeks, but it looked like it started really trending up about halfway through October. Two weeks ago. So, look back to April tenth. 96 new deaths.
Will we see a sharp spike in fatalities in the next week or two? Only answer is 'wait and see'.
If no sharp, and I mean really sharp uptick in fatalities, then that suggests to me the possibility that there's a lot of asymptomatic positives and folks that had it, are over it and just shed virus.
Pure guesswork on my part.
As far as 'fatigue' goes, yes, of course there is but perhaps less than we think. Everywhere I go, people are wearing masks. They're trying.
I had extra masks in my bag
I had extra masks in my bag that were new in sealed packages on my ride home from North Station on Orange Line. Guy gets on at Downtown Crossing without a mask looking fucked up and smelling of alcohol. I offered him a mask and he started swearing at me and wouldn't take it. If the MBTA doesn't enforce it then no wonder ridership is down and Covid cases are up.
Wow!
The drunken guy who looked fucked up, got on the MBTA at Downtown Crossing, started swearing at you when you offered him a face mask and wouldn't take it sounds like a real loser there!
It's too bad that the MBTA Staff doesn't enforce mask wearing, because they're putting themselves, their families, friends and neighbors, as well as fellow MBTA Staffpeople and their families/neighbors/friends at risk, also, not to mention other MBTA riders, as well. That, too, is a huge part of the reason that Covid-19 cases are up and ridership on the MBTA is way the hell down.
Train usage
Isn't down so much because of people not wearing masks as people working at home instead of in downtown buildings.
You can tell that in MBTA statistics that show that ridership on subway and commuter-rail lines, which were built over the past century largely to move people to and from downtown offices, is down way, way more than ridership on buses, which serve the poorer neighborhoods where so many of the essential workers, who have to physically show up to work or lose their jobs, live.
Did you alert the MBTA staff?
See something, say something.