Baker says state still in surge; Boston to test homeless
BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday that while the state continues to battle the coronavirus, it still hasn’t reached the other side of the surge.
That means steps taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 — from shuttering nonessential businesses to social distancing — will remain in place.
“Until we start to see some of that kind of information about the peaking of the surge and the move in the other direction for some sustained period of time, we’re not going to be interested in reopening anything,” Baker said.
Baker said there has been some discussion about how the state might safely reopen the economy, but again emphasized the state is not at that point.
Health officials are keeping an eye on the number of people tested and what percentage have tested positive. The percentage of positive tests compared to all tests has fluctuated in the 20s, Baker said. On Thursday, about 21% of those tests came back positive.
Baker, a Republican, also cautioned that the state has been focusing a good portion of its testing on locations believed to have high number of people who have contracted COVID-19, including nursing homes, which could in part account for the high number of positive tests.
Democratic Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said Friday that he has been talking to Baker about extending the state’s stay-at-home advisory beyond May 4.
“There’s been no decision on that, but I’m expecting that will probably happen,” Walsh said.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
In other coronavirus-related developments in Massachusetts:
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CASE TOTALS
State officials announced Friday an additional 196 coronavirus deaths, pushing the state’s overall total to 2,556. It is the second highest number of deaths reported in a single day since the start of the outbreak in Massachusetts.
Nearly 5,000 new cases of COVID-19 were announced, bringing the state’s total number of reported cases to nearly 51,000.
More than 3,800 people with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized.
The virus also continued to take a toll on long-term care facilities, which have accounted for more than half of all deaths — 1,429 as of Friday.
More than 215,000 tests have been conducted in Massachusetts.
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HEALTH COMMISSIONER-COVID-19
Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel appeared at Friday’s daily coronavirus update about a month after announcing she had tested positive for the virus.
Bharel said she wanted to acknowledge the ongoing suffering and loss of life but also wanted to note that many people recover from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“Having been infected with COVID-19 and thankfully recovered, I know first-hand the impact of this virus,” said Bharel, whose husband and children also got sick.
During the first week of her illness, Bharel said she experienced severe muscle aches and fever and relied on Tylenol to let her work from home. By the second week, she said her fever had eased but was replaced by what she described as an “intense feeling of exhaustion.”
It was only in the third week that she felt her strength returning. She said she and her family were isolated during the illness and she didn’t return to work until she was cleared by her local board of health.
“It was one thing to intellectually understand this evolving disease and an entirely different thing to personally experience it,” she said.
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CORONAVIRUS TESTING-HOMELESS
Walsh said Friday that the city has secured more than 1,000 additional coronavirus tests needed to test the city’s homeless population.
Earlier tests indicated that as many as a third of the homeless people in Massachusetts’ largest city have the virus, with many people not showing symptoms.
Walsh said the tests will let public health officials test all those in the city’s shelter system over the next two weeks.
“This is a big step forward in protecting our most vulnerable populations,” Walsh said in a press release. “Universal testing in Boston’s homeless community is critical to allow us to provide individuals the targeted care they need.”
As of Thursday, 1,340 individuals have been tested, and 453 homeless individuals who have been tested are positive, or 34%.
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NURSING HOME HOTSPOT
More than half the residents of a Brookline nursing home have COVID-19, town officials said.
At least 45 of the 87 residents at the CareOne nursing home have the disease, Dr. Swannie Jett, Brookline’s health director, said Thursday. Thirteen staff members also tested positive for the virus.
Of the 16 coronavirus deaths in Brookline so far, 14 were residents of the home.
CareOne recently passed an infection control inspection and has agreed to weekly inspections going forward.
A telephone message left with CareOne was not immediately returned Friday.