Massachusetts reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, but experts warn that the worst hasn’t come yet.
Of the 4,613 cases reported, epidemiologists said many were likely to be unrelated to Thanksgiving trips and rallies. Current data are expected, as it can take up to 14 days to test positive for COVID-19 after exposure, and it can take even longer for infected people to become seriously ill. It has not yet reflected the wave of new cases after the holidays. Hospitalization and death, they said.
“It ’s only 7 days. [since Thanksgiving]And I’m very worried that we’ve already seen a record number of cases, as we’ll be seeing all cases of COVID-19 from holidays for another week, “said Assistant Jose. Dr. Figueroa said. Professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “It suggests that things will only get worse.”
Cases of COVID-19 are increasing in Massachusetts throughout the fall. The Public Health Service reported that the seven-day average for newly identified cases first exceeded 2,000 per day in early November. Over 3,000 cases in the last few days.
Infections in the state had already accelerated before the holidays, making it difficult to unravel the various factors behind this week’s surge in cases, and will continue to be the Chang School of Public. Dr. Barry Bloom, a professor and former dean, said. health.
“It’s all in the context of what’s happening even before Thanksgiving. That’s a dilemma,” he said. “It’s hard to see an increase in addition to an increase.”
The number of cases over the next two weeks will better reflect the impact of holidays on the steep slopes of the state’s ascending curve, Bloom said. But he warned that it would still be difficult to say exactly where and how individual people were infected, given the widespread community.
“The best measure of severity that has already risen, regardless of what happened at Thanksgiving, is hospitalization,” Bloom said.
The state reported 68 new hospitalizations on Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital to 1,259 and 46 new deaths.
Unlike the number of cases, these indicators do not depend on the number of people being tested or the relative risk of the person being tested compared to the state as a whole. However, there are drawbacks to certainty. These indicators are far behind the surge.
“The scary thing is that we haven’t seen any hospitalizations and deaths associated with the Thanksgiving holiday season yet,” said Figueroa, a practitioner at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He said it could take up to five weeks from now on for people infected on trips and family gatherings to become seriously ill.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, Figueroa said, and multiple vaccines are likely to be available in the coming months, perhaps by the end of the year. But he said the already high-level community expansion accelerated by consecutive holidays would draw a picture of concern in the coming weeks.
He said the same factors that caused people to ignore public health guidance over Thanksgiving would also affect winter vacation.
“We are still approaching another big holiday,” Figueroa said. “We were just a big hit, and we are about to enter another round at Christmas.”
Dacia Moore can be reached at [email protected].. Follow her on Twitter @daijmoore..
