Massachusetts 'good progress' on COVID-19 testing continues
BOSTON -- Massachusetts is seeing "good progress" in its COVID-19 testing numbers, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday, 199 days after the first case of the new coronavirus was identified in Massachusetts.
Baker said the state "is seeing a steady climb in the number of new individuals tested" over the past week, with about 15,000 people or more newly tested each day. Though that number fell to 11,653 in Tuesday's Department of Public Health report, it remained above what Baker said was a seven-day average of about 9,000 new individuals tested per day in mid-June.
The total number of tests conducted each day is also up, the governor said, hitting a seven-day average of about 20,000 daily tests for the past two weeks.
Baker teased that he might have more to say later in the week on testing for schools, as he announced that most districts were aiming for either a hybrid or fully in-person return to school this fall.
Baker also said he's among those who plan to avail themselves of the expanded mail-in voting options allowed this year under a new pandemic-era state elections law, and it looks like he'll be part of a big group. Ballots have already been mailed out to almost a quarter of the state's registered voters ahead of the Sept. 1 primary, Secretary of State William Galvin said.
DPH Reports 175 New COVID Cases
There were 175 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Massachusetts in the last 24 hours, the Department of Public Health said in a report Tuesday afternoon that also announced the recent deaths of six people with the virus.
Tuesday's additions raised the state's total caseload to 114,786 and boosted the virus's death toll here to at least 8,617. If you count people who died with probable cases of COVID-19, the virus has claimed 8,848 lives in Massachusetts since the middle of March.
The 175 new cases came from the tests of 11,653 people during the 24-hour reporting period, meaning 1.5 percent of all tests came back positive for the coronavirus. The seven-day average of the statewide positive test rate remained at 1.4 percent Tuesday, DPH said.
The number of people hospitalized here with COVID-19 rose by seven from Monday to Tuesday, with 374 people hospitalized as of midday Tuesday. The number of people being treated in an intensive care unit also rose -- from 59 to 66 -- and the number of people intubated climbed by one to 23, DPH said.
Holyoke, Salem, Saugus Join Testing Initiative
Baker announced Tuesday that three communities -- Salem, Saugus and Holyoke -- are being added to the state's Stop the Spread initiative, a program that provides free COVID-19 testing in cities and towns that have higher rates of COVID-19.
Current cities include Fall River and Taunton.
The testing is not restricted to residents of those communities and is open to asymptomatic individuals. The program will run through Sept. 12, Baker said, and more than 78,000 tests had been performed through the initiative as of last week.
Salem, Saugus and Holyoke all fall into the highest-risk "red" category in the state's color-coded COVID-19 risk assessment metric.
Sharon Teachers Union Votes For Remote-Only Start
Members of the teachers association in Sharon have voted to only use remote learning at the start of the school year, citing concerns with an alleged lack of health and safety protocols.
The Sharon Teachers Association announced its vote Tuesday and said it comes as families in that town are being asked if they support a remote learning model or a hybrid model featuring remote and in-person instruction.
"Families are being asked to make that decision blindly," said STA President Bernadette Murphy. "Before any students or staff are allowed back into the buildings for any length of time, the district must answer many questions about the condition of these buildings as well as specify how those in the schools would be kept safe. At this time, there are no assurances that anyone using the public schools can be reasonably assured that the COVID-19 risk is manageable."
With 2.7 cases per 100,000 residents in the latest state assessment, Sharon was labeled a "green" category with less than 4 cases per 100,000. Communities assigned green or white colors are expected to open schools on a full-time in-person model, but could do hybrid under extenuating circumstances, according to guidance from state education officials.
At UNC, In-Person Classes Called Off
The in-person instruction portion of the fall semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will be short-lived.
After the emergence of "a spate of COVID-19 infection clusters" on campus during the first week of classes, the university announced Monday that it would shift all undergraduate courses to remote learning and will try to dramatically reduce the number of students living in its dorms. The school said its health services office "reported a significant rise in positive COVID-19 tests over the past week" -- from a positive test rate of 2.8 percent to 13.6 percent.
As of Monday, UNC said there were 177 students in isolation and 349 in quarantine, both on and off campus.
"Since launching the Roadmap for Fall 2020, we have emphasized that if we were faced with the need to change plans – take an off-ramp – we would not hesitate to do so, but we have not taken this decision lightly," university leaders wrote in an email to students explaining the shift.
In Massachusetts, many colleges and universities are preparing to welcome students from around the country and the world back to campus in the coming weeks. While some are planning on mostly in-person instruction, others -- like the University of Massachusetts Amherst -- have told most students not to report to campus in person this fall.