BOSTON (AP) – The number of news from COVID-19 has increased in Massachusetts.
On Tuesday, the state reported 438 new instances shown and 108 new likely instances, for a total of more than 540 instances displayed and likely. This brings the total number of cases shown and likely to more than 119,000 in Massachusetts since the start of the pandemic.
The state also reported nine newly confirmed deaths linked to COVID-19 on Tuesday — bringing the number of confirmed and probable deaths to 8,657.
There were 354 people reported hospitalized Tuesday because of COVID-19, while 56 were in intensive care units.
The number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 related deaths at long-term care homes rose to 5,512 or nearly 64% of all confirmed and probable deaths in Massachusetts attributed to the disease.
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VISITOR QUARANTINE
Rhode Island was removed from the list of low-risk states that allowed citizens to be exempt from Massachusetts quarantine requirements.
Health officials said Tuesday the decision to remove Rhode Island was due to increases in both the state’s positive test rate and cases per 100,000.
Thousands of travelers to Massachusetts have begun filling out forms required by the state to help combat the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday.
On Saturday, the state began requiring visitors comply with a new executive order mandating they quarantine for 14 days or face a $500-per-day fine.
That includes residents returning home from out-of-state trips.
Travelers who would likely produce a negative RESULT of COVID-19 verification that were administered up to 72 hours prior to arrival in Massachusetts are exempt.
Visitors to a low-risk state, adding all new England states, with the exception of Rhode Island, and New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii, are exempt from completing the form.
There are also exemptions for people passing through the state, people who commute across state lines for work, and for those traveling to Massachusetts for medical treatment or to comply with military orders.
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SOLDIERS HOME
Eleven other people from the soldiers’ space in Holyoke tested positive for COVID-19, public fitness officials said Tuesday.
Four veteran residents have been placed in isolation, and seven staffers have been asked to self-quarantine over the past week, according to officials. All 11 had previously tested positive and are considered clinically recovered from COVID-19.
None have symptoms and tests may have a non-COVID explanation. Health officials said the space had implemented protocols for other clinically recovered people that can be positive even after their clinical recovery.
The Veterans House, which is the site of one of the deadliest outbreaks of the virus in a nursing home in the country, with 76 residents’ deaths, suspended visits until August 11 in response to new cases.
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NURSING HOME WARNINGS
The Massachusetts’ state Medicaid program has issued termination notices to three private nursing homes for allegedly failing to meet care expectations during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hermitage Healthcare at Worcester, Town and Country Health Care Center in Lowell and Wareham Healthcare received warnings Monday from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Warnings are the first step in getting rid of MassHealth, which can force the installation to close.
Next Step Healthcare, the parent company of Hermitage Healthcare and Wareham Healthcare, told the Boston Globe that the state Department of Public Health had discovered the two services that meet infection control criteria for 3 out of 4 recent visits.
The company said it would appeal any of the decisions.
A user who responded to a phone call in Town and Country on Monday told the Sun of Lowell that the installation would comment.
Hermitage Healthcare has had 12 deaths from COVID-19, Town and Country has had 10 deaths and Wareham Healthcare has had no reported deaths.
The state stated that the services showed low adherence to fundamental infection practices.
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SALEM HALLOWEEN
Salem is scaling back Halloween celebrations because of the coronavirus.
Every year, thousands of revelers descend in Salem, which has followed the nickname “City of Witches”, a reference to the notorious witch trials of the past 1600. But the mayor announced Tuesday that many occasions organized by the city were cancelled.
The Salem News reports that the occasions that have been cancelled come with the great Haunted Happenings parade, food truck festivals, the Great Salem Pumpkin Walk and the Mayor’s Night.
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‘GRADUATION PARTY
A Massachusetts town has canceled high school graduation after a “prom-like” house party sparked concerns of COVID-19 transmission among parents and students.
Cohasset Superintendent Patrick Sullivan and Cohasset High School Principal Brian Scott said in a letter to families this week that canceling graduation was the “most prudent course of action“ given the July 25 party happened so close to this Friday’s ceremony.
Town officials said last Friday there have so far been no reported cases of the virus linked to the party, but have urged all those who attended to get tested, since photos from the event show many were not wearing face masks or socially distancing.
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RESTAURANT WORKERS PARTY
No new cases have been reported following an outbreak on Cape Cod as a result of assistance in Chatham through restaurant employees, city officials said Tuesday.
Robert Duncanson, Chatham’s director of fitness, said 33 of the other 34 people reviewed on an “emerging” check filed on July 27 tested negative for COVID-19. The result of a check is still pending, he said.
The July 12 holiday was linked to at least thirteen positive cases of viruses.
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FREE TRIAL SITE
Framingham is the newest network in Massachusetts that downloads a loose coronavirus test as a component of the state’s Stop the Spread program.
Free verification sites are installed in communities that are above the state average in the total number of cases, the positive verification rate, and at the same time fewer people are reviewed.
Seventeen such sites have now been set up.
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Associated Press reporter Philip Marcelo contributed to this report.