With the state’s latest release of COVID-19 data on Thursday, Dec. 10, Cohasset saw a continued, steady climb of cases in town.
Cohasset’s total case count has risen to 95, with 11 new cases appearing last week.
That number marks three straight weeks of a double-digit case load in town, and holds Cohasset in the state’s “yellow” risk category for a second week in a row.
Increased testing and the entrance into the traditional flu season has proved as impactful to numbers across the state as expected, with Cohasset residents seeing this firsthand.
Entering November, Cohasset’s case count was 48, dating back to the beginning of the year. Cohasset has seen nearly the same amount of cases in the past six weeks as it saw in the previous eight months during the pandemic.
The 11 new cases came from a crop of 420 tests administered last week. With those results, the town’s positivity rate over the last 14 days rose from 2.34% to 2.98%.
Cohasset’s average daily incidence rate per 100,000 residents also continued to trend in the wrong direction, climbing to 22.34 cases. That number is up from the prior week’s 19.4 cases and from 9.7 cases in November’s last state release.
State numbers
On Thursday, Dec. 10, Mass DPH announced 5,130 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state since the pandemic's start to 264,454.
There have been 32,190 new cases of the virus confirmed in the past week, compared to 20,516 from Friday, Nov. 29 to Dec. 3. There state did not release updated case numbers on Nov. 28 because of Thanksgiving.
There have also been 326 additional deaths from the virus since last Thursday, a jump of 100 more weekly deaths than there were last week. There were 236 new deaths from the virus from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.
As of Dec. 10, there are 283 more people hospitalized with the virus across the state than there were on Dec. 3, 1,607 in total. From Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, that number rose by 338. Of those reported hospitalized on Dec. 10, 307 were in ICUs and 168 were intubated.
This week, 158 cities and towns were in the "red" zone for virus transmission, 61 more than last week. On the South Shore, Hanover and Abington remained in the "red" from last week, while Marshfield, Pembroke, Plymouth, Quincy, Rockland and Weymouth moved into the "red" this week. All other towns on the South Shore are in the "yellow."
State moving back to step 1 of phase 3
On Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker said he would move the state backward a step within phase 3 of the economic reopening plan in response to what he called "disturbing trends" in the state's case numbers following Thanksgiving.
"The rate Massachusetts residents are getting infected and the rate at which they are needing medical care, if all continues to move at this pace, is simply not sustainable over time, and our health care system will be put at risk," he said.
This means lowering the maximum size for outdoor gatherings and closing some indoor recreational businesses and performance venues.
Under the increased restrictions, Baker said, capacity limits will also be reduced to 40 percent for "pretty much everything else," including gyms, libraries, museums, retail stores, houses of worship and movie theaters.
Restaurants must now move from capping parties at 10 people to capping them at 6. Restaurants must be closed between 9:30 p.m. and 5 a.m., and patrons must leave by 10 p.m. at the latest.
The changes will go into effect Sunday, Dec. 13.
On Monday, Baker announced hospitals will limit, but not halt entirely, elective procedures in order to ease pressure on hospitals as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.
General public to receive vaccines this spring
On Wednesday, Baker unveiled a three-phased plan to distribute doses of COVID-19 vaccinations over the coming months.
In phase one set to run from this month to mid-February, doses would first be made available to health care workers who are directly treating COVID-19 patients. Through the rest of the phase, doses will then be administered to long-term care residents and staff, first responders, workers and residents at group care settings like shelters and correctional facilities, home-based health care workers and those in the health field who are not treating COVID-19 patients.
In phase two, which is planned to run from mid-February to mid-April, adults with two or more comorbidities that create risks for COVID-19 complications would be next to receive that vaccine. After that, workers in fields like transit, K-12 and early childhood education, sanitation and grocery stores would receive them, then adults aged 65 or older and individuals with just one comorbidity. This phase will likely distribute 1.9 million vaccines, Baker said.
Then in the third and final phase, the general public would have access to the vaccine. Baker said April is the the "approximate goal" for launching phase three.
The first 60,000 doses of the vaccine, made by Pfizer, are set to arrive in Massachusetts by Dec. 15. Baker said he expects the state to have received 300,000 vaccine doses, some from Moderna and some from Pfizer, by the end of December.
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report. Audrey Cooney contributed to this report.
December 15, 2020 at 12:49AM
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Cohasset remains “yellow” with 11 new COVID cases - Wicked Local
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