Boston sees coronavirus case jump in start of possible Thanksgiving spread trend

Boston officials are monitoring a sudden jump in coronavirus cases Mayor Martin Walsh said he hopes isn’t the start of a post-Thanksgiving trend.

Walsh told reporters the the city logged 407 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday — far more than a normal day’s count, and nearly double the previous day. Walsh said the city recorded 11 COVID-19 deaths since Friday.

“We’re going to be monitoring the data closely as it comes in to make sure that we don’t see these large spikes,” Walsh said, adding that he believes Tuesday’s tally is the largest number since June. “So tomorrow and the next couple days we’ll see what our numbers look like.”

He said the focus will be on cases and hospitalization as officials keep an eye on a possible Thanksgiving-driven increase.

“It could be the first signs of what Thanksgiving holiday brought,” Walsh said. “It’s important for us to get testing to see exactly if there’s been any spread of the virus during Thanksgiving.”

People infected with the virus often don’t test positive or have symptoms for several days, and that incubation period can last up to two weeks, scientists have said. The average time it takes is about five days — right about the time it is right now since Thanksgiving. Hospitalization numbers lag a bit further behind, and deaths beyond that, so it can take three or four weeks to see the real toll of a spike.

Walsh also announced the opening of a third mobile testing site in the city, with a site that’s now in Jamaica Plain joining others in East Boston and Roxbury.

Cases rose concerningly through October and into November, but the positive test rate improved and hospitalization numbers leveled off heading into Thanksgiving.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said earlier in this week, “let’s try to get the kids back” into school, as there’s not shown to be much spread in classrooms.

Boston postponed much of its school district’s reopening in October due to rising case counts, though Walsh for months has advocated for getting as many kids back in classrooms as is possible.

Asked about Fauci’s comments, the mayor said that he’d “love” to have kids back in schools, as many are having a hard time with the lack of in-person education.

“I’m not anticipating our schools reopening fully before Christmas break,” Walsh said, “but I am expecting that we’ll be able to have some clarification on what the phased reopening is going to be after Christmas.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/37p0w3s