Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston, Holyoke: car wash, tower, tallest)

[justyouraveragetenant]

what about face shields? does anyone know if you can use a face sheild in stores instead of a mask. they look
a lot more comfortable.

you might need a mask either way I dont know. I would rather wear a face sheild then a mask.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

Now that the nursing homes are in lockdown I would expect hospitalizations to continue to fall... even if it starts spreading again once things reopen.

I don't think you understand how it gets into nursing homes. The residents don't bring it in. Most nursing homes suspended visitation at least 8 weeks ago so visitors don't bring it in. It's the staff that brings it in. All it takes is one asymptomatic staff member and you have an outbreak. Nobody is doing White House-level screening of nursing home staff with daily COVID-19 testing. Have a cough? No. Does the thermometer show 98.6? Yep. Off to your shift. At near-minimum wage, an awful lot of staff are using mass transit and living in multi-generational high density housing. Those are the communities with the high infection rates. If the recent Boston community testing is representative, only 13.3% test positive for antibodies. That's not herd immunity. It will continue to get into nursing homes just like the flu gets into nursing homes.



My mother is in the memory care facility of a CCRC. They suspended visitation on March 10th. That building has managed to avoid it but the skilled nursing facility had an outbreak with deaths and the assisted living part had an outbreak with one death. It's kind of dumb luck that the memory care building avoided it. No matter how much staff screening they do, they're not going to catch that asymptomatic person.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I don't think you understand how it gets into nursing homes. The residents don't bring it in. Most nursing homes suspended visitation at least 8 weeks ago so visitors don't bring it in. It's the staff that brings it in. All it takes is one asymptomatic staff member and you have an outbreak.

I definitely agree that's how it got in there. But people are put in nursing homes for a reason, they aren't in the best of shape and a respiratory virus like this is something that would wreak havoc.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/re...-summary-plan-


Looks like May 25th, the entire state of MA will be lining up for a haircut.

Yeah, fortunately I got a haircut a week or two before the lockdown, but it's still getting kind of shaggy now. Will be good to get it cleaned up, esp with the hot weather coming.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by justyouraveragetenant

what about face shields? does anyone know if you can use a face sheild in stores instead of a mask. they look
a lot more comfortable.

you might need a mask either way I dont know. I would rather wear a face sheild then a mask.

Most stores are requiring a mask.

You can certainly wear a face-shield if you want, but you'll be asked to have a mask on underneath.

I witnessed someone go into a store this weekend with a 5-gallon water jug cut to fit their head. They also had a mask on.

[sawyer2]

Promising data from Moderna's Phase 1 study - eight patients who received two doses of the vaccine at the lowest and middle doses tested developed neutralizing antibodies to the virus at levels similar to people who had recovered from infection.

Early days and small patient numbers but encouraging nonetheless.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/18/...mune-response/

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Most stores are requiring a mask.

You can certainly wear a face-shield if you want, but you'll be asked to have a mask on underneath.

I witnessed someone go into a store this weekend with a 5-gallon water jug cut to fit their head. They also had a mask on.

I have seen photos of people wearing clear plastic bags over their heads in stores. Talk about hypoxia!

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

I have seen photos of people wearing clear plastic bags over their heads in stores. Talk about hypoxia!

I have felt like that after reading some of the conspiracy comments on here

[Bridge781]

It still is kind of suspicious to me the way this is affecting nursing homes. It is what it is but there aren’t that many cases of corona....odd that so many workers in nursing homes are getting it and spreading it.

[sawyer2]

Here is the full 'Reopening Massachusetts' slide deck

https://www.mass.gov/doc/reopening-m...KfbbBsFt330k8g