Massachusetts becomes coronavirus hotspot as cases surge

BOSTON — Massachusetts has become a hotspot of coronavirus infections, drawing the concern of federal officials and promises of aid from hard-hit New York as the state's death toll prepares to double in less than a week.

Deaths from COVID-19 are expected to surpass 2,000 this week in Massachusetts, where officials are scrambling to boost hospital capacity and trace new infections to curb the spread of the disease.

"We're right in the middle of the surge now," Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Vice President Mike Pence said the White House is closely watching the Boston area, and the coordinator of the federal coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx, said officials are "very much focused" on Massachusetts.

There were 146 new deaths reported in Massachusetts on Sunday, bringing the state's death toll to more than 1,700. More than 1,700 new cases were reported, for a total of more than 38,000 across the state. That compares with more than 14,000 deaths in New York state and over 35,000 nationally.

Massachusetts is hoping to bend the curve by using a group of "contact tracers" to alert people who may have come in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus so they can self-quarantine or be tested themselves.

As of Thursday, contact tracers had gotten a hold of 765 people who had tested positive and those people identified more than 1,000 people they had been in close contact with.

"We don't have any other really good tools until we have a vaccine," said Andrew Lover, an expert at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's School of Public Health & Health Sciences.

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 the infirm, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

As the number of hospitalizations and deaths dropped in New York, which had been the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo pledged to send 400 ventilators to Massachusetts, if needed.

"You were there for us and we are going to be there for you," Cuomo said Sunday.

Two field hospitals designed to deal with an expected surge of COVID-19 patients opened Monday in Massachusetts, joining two other sites that have been up and running. A fifth one is expected to open in about a week.

There were more than 150 patients on Saturday at a medical center called Boston Hope set up at the city's convention center. The 1,000-bed hospital could reach capacity as the cases peak, officials said.

"If the surge really happens, which it feels like it's here and escalating, then in fact we will be filling all of our beds," Jeanette Ives Erickson, co-director of the field hospital, told The Boston Globe.

In Massachusetts' hardest-hit community, Chelsea, officials are urging residents not to leave their homes at all as the cases surge unless they are an essential worker or have an essential need.

The densely populated city just outside Boston, with a large Latino immigrant community, has Massachusetts' highest rate of infection, nearly four times the statewide rate. The city's more than 40,000 residents live across just about 2 square miles in crowded housing units, and many work in essential services like grocery stores, said City Manager Thomas Ambrosino.

"We have to get it under control here," Ambrosino said.

Boston has been ramping up efforts to slow the spread in neighborhoods with the highest rates of infection. But as temperatures climbed Sunday, some people ignored directives to stay at home and gathered with friends or played soccer and golf, Mayor Marty Walsh said.

They were "not understanding the severity of what's happening here in this country and in Boston, in Massachusetts," Walsh said on CNN. "It's just wrong," he said.

The city has outfitted public work trucks with speakers that are circling hard-hit neighborhoods broadcasting messages about social distancing, washing hands and covering faces.

“The worst is yet to come for a lot of people,” Walsh said Monday. “Even when we’re beyond the curve, we’re going to have positive cases of coronavirus, we’re still going to have loss of life.”

On Monday, Mayor Walsh released a new map of all the testing sites in Boston.

TESTING FACILITY ADDRESS CONTACT

• Codman Square Health Center - 637 Washington Street Dorchester, MA 02124 (617) 822-8271
• The Dimock Center 55 Dimock Street Roxbury, MA 02119(617) 442-8800
• DotHouse Health 1353 Dorchester Avenue Dorchester, MA 02122 (617) 740-2292
• Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center 632 Blue Hill Avenue Dorchester, MA 02121 (617) 825-3400
• Mattapan Community Health Center 1575 Blue Hill Avenue Mattapan, MA 02126 (617) 296-0061
• Whittier Street Health Center 1290 Tremont Street Roxbury, MA 02120 (617) 427-1000
• East Boston Neighborhood Health Center 10 Gove Street East Boston, MA 02128 (617) 569-5800
• Upham’s Corner Health Center 415 Columbia Road Dorchester, MA 02125 (617) 388-5007
• Bowdoin Street Health Center 230 Bowdoin Street Dorchester, MA 02122 (617) 754-0100
• Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Community Physicians at Hyde Park 1337 Hyde Park Avenue Hyde Park, MA 02136 (617) 364-9880
• Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston main campus) 75 Francis Street Boston, MA 02115 (617) 732-5500
• Carney Hospital 2100 Dorchester Avenue Dorchester, MA 02124 (617) 296-4000
• Massachusetts General Hospital 55 Fruit Street Boston, MA 02114 (617) 726-2000
• St. Elizabeth Medical Center 736 Cambridge Street Brighton, MA 02135 (617) 789-3000
• Tufts Medical Center 800 Washington Street Boston, MA 02111 (617) 636-7216

The mayor also talked about what the city would like when we start transitioning back saying, “it’s going to be very different when we open the economy and we get people back to work. Restaurants we don’t know if they will be open and you can go out to dinner, is it going to be social distancing. All of those things need to be worked on."

Walsh said we are not out of the woods by a long shot.

“I think that the worst is yet to come for a lot of people," said Walsh. “I think even beyond the surge we are still going to have positive cases of coronavirus. We are still going to have lost of life. In theory we might be on the other side of the curve but for families that devastation of losing a loved one will continue to happen in the foreseeable future.”

When asked multiple times whether fines should be used to help change some people’s behavior he said, “this is not something I want to do, I don’t want to put fines on our residents who are already being financially burdened, but as we did this weekend we sent Boston Police officers to disperse crowds in Franklin Park and we will target areas where people are gathering."

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RESOURCES:

- Massachusetts Coronavirus Information

- Boston Coronavirus Information

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