Private parties are to blame for the rising number of coronavirus cases in Massachusetts — particularly in cities, Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday.
“Many of our clusters, have been the result of informal gatherings with no distance, no masks, shared food in an attempt, in many respects I think, to go back to the good old days before we had COVID. The problem, of course, with that is that we haven’t. It will continue to be with us,” he said.
Baker’s comments come a day after the state released it’s most dire coronavirus risk assessment map to date and as Boston moved into the red — or highest risk category — for the first time. Mayor Martin Walsh on Wednesday also blamed house parties on the city’s rising caseload.
A record 23 communities are now listed in red, meaning they reported an average daily case rate of at least eight per 100,000 residents over the 14-day period ending Saturday, according to public health data.
Communities that have been listed as red in any of the past three weekly Department of Public Health reports are barred from moving forward with the next phase of reopening on Monday.
Many of those highest-risk communities include densely populated cities including Attleboro, Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Framingham, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Revere and Worcester.
“Population density is a really important issue,” Baker said, speaking at an unrelated MBTA even in Cambridge on Thursday. “I mean you can almost track populations — that’s in many cases, where some of the most severe outbreaks have taken place.”
Outbreaks can also be traced to college campuses where clusters at schools including Merrimack College and UMass Amherst has affected the rate of community spread, Baker said.
Baker declined to back off his reopening strategy and defended his decision to this week expand indoor dining and next week move forward with plans to increase allowable capacity for a number of retail industries — even as public health data shows a jump in community spread of coronavirus in a growing number of cities and towns.
“Work, in many cases, is not where spread develops because people at work are relying on and abiding by the rules and the guidance,” Baker said.
The state has expanded public gathering sizes in low-risk communities but opted not to increase the number of people allowed to gather privately, which Baker said is the culprit for many recent clusters.
The Republican governor again urged people to wear a mask, to wash their hands, and to social distance whenever possible.
“Accept the fact that the virus is a contagion. It can and does spread if you give it an opportunity and we need to continue to respect it,” Baker said.
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October 02, 2020 at 03:46AM
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Charlie Baker continues to blame parties for continued coronavirus spread in Massachusetts - Boston Herald
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