"Official toll of Massachusetts coronavirus deaths likely undercounted, a review shows" by Andrew Ryan, Kay Lazar and Saurabh Datar Globe Staff, April 22, 2020
The number of people killed by coronavirus in Massachusetts in the early days of the pandemic is likely much higher than reflected by the official death toll, according to a Globe analysis of preliminary state death records from March.
The world truly has been turned upside down for the exact opposite is the truth. Birx even said they were liberally applying the COVID designation to any and all deaths in line with their modeling.
Total deaths in Massachusetts soared by 11 percent last month over the March average for the last 20 years, a statistically significant increase that far exceeded the expected swings from year to year.
The March spike in deaths eclipsed the number of fatalities attributed to the coronavirus in official counts, and also suggests that fatalities began to climb before the full extent of the outbreak was clear. While the number of total deaths increased, the state saw a steep drop in fatal accidents and suicides.
There is your first red flag. Suicides and accidents dropped as the deaths spiked.
I mean, the stuff reads frightening, year-over-year averages and all, big spike. I may not know science very well, but I've always been good with numbers. I would like to dig into the article a bit if you don't mind.
The phenomenon points to a likely undercount of deaths linked to the disease, according to public health experts.
“We are absolutely undercounting COVID-19 deaths, there is not a doubt in my mind about that,” said Dr. Michael Mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, “and if we undercount deaths, we deflate fatality rates.”
Oooooooh!
This looks like the Globe running interference and trying to drown out the study that came out of California as well as one next door in Chelsea. Now that the "disease" isn't as fatal as the seasonal flu (which it probably was), the Globe is looking to hurriedly backfill with these... lies!
There is no other word for it.
I said they were evil, and they undoubtedly are. It's the paper of MIT and Big Pharma now, irredeemably beyond hope.
An accurate accounting of the dead is critical because it helps public health experts understand the disease and can shape public policy and the allocation of resources.
Who elected them?
Increasing evidence from across the globe suggests that the pandemic may be claiming far more lives than the fatality figures published each day by states and countries the world over show. Here in Massachusetts, the overall data from the Department of Public Health was particularly stark, although officials warned that the figures were subject to change and should be viewed with caution.
The evidence(?) suggests(?) that it "may be" killing more, but the data is "subject to change" and should be "viewed with caution?"
Well, the evidence suggested(!) that Iraq had WMDS, right?
The data "subject to change and to be viewed with caution" was used to SHUT DOWN a WORLD?
Since 1999, an average of 5,049 people have died each March in Massachusetts, but this year, March deaths swelled to 5,578. It was the largest number of March deaths in at least 20 years, topping the previous high of 5,405 in the brutal winter of 2015.
The surge of 529 deaths above average far surpassed the 89 fatalities officially attributed to the virus through the end of March.
So the 11% surge cited above is actually an increase from around 5,000 to about 5,500?
The difference there could be accounted for by.... ANYTHING!
There has been no investigation or anything regarding causes of death or anything, it's just reported(!) numbers. They have no basis for making the claim that they are in this report. It's garbage!
Governor Charlie Baker’s administration said in a statement that it was actively reviewing death certificate data back to March 1 or earlier to ensure that the full impact of COVID-19 is measured.
“The department will continue to update numbers and investigate COVID cases as far back as the data suggests,” the statement said. The results of that review were not included in the March death totals, and the administration did not say when its analysis would be completed.
That's odd, because a companion piece in today's Globe is how the virus was loose a lot earlier than suspected in California.
In fact, it was on the loose when Baker was blaming vapes for virus-like symptoms!
What it means is what you are seeing is a revisionist effort to inflate the death statistics even more in regard to COVID-19.
I'm not saying people have not died. It's how did they die and from what that is the question that is not be addressed in their blizzard of numbers.
The data analyzed by the Globe also found a sharp uptick in the number of people who died at home, a total that jumped 32 percent in March 2020 compared to the 20-year March average.
One can't help but wonder if they are being quietly killed.
The jump in home deaths was particularly noticeable in Plymouth County, which has a population that is older on average than much of the state. The number of home deaths there jumped by a third with 32 additional fatalities. Home deaths also jumped substantially in Suffolk, Worcester, and Middlesex counties, according to the data.
Deaths in people’s homes that occur outside of hospitals and nursing facilities are important because they may indicate officials are missing the full toll exacted by the coronavirus, health specialists say.
May indicate.
The increased number of deaths may in part stem from people’s fears of seeking treatment in hospitals and doctor’s offices for heart, kidney, and other health problems and instead they are dying from those diseases at home, according to Mina, the Harvard epidemiology professor. That notion raises an equally vexing problem.
Then this whole drill is an exercise in MASS MURDER!
The hospitals are quiet!
“This should be a wakeup call for anybody who lives by the mantra that the US is number one in health care. We are not,” Mina said. "This is extraordinarily unacceptable that we don’t have the resources to diagnose people who are dying.”
Then factor in the deliberate crashing of the economy and destruction of livelihoods based on this baloney!
Maybe we should eat the bastards.
The Globe’s findings were “highly suggestive that deaths connected to COVID-19 have been undercounted in Massachusetts,” according to Ronald D. Fricker Jr., a dean and professor of statistics at Virginia Tech.
Highly suggestive?
The trend mirrors that of other places such as New York City, which has experienced an increase of deaths at home that have suggested an undercount of COVID-19 fatalities, Fricker noted.
While the rise in deaths could be explained in part by Massachusetts’ recent population growth or another phenomenon, the “strong evidence of an undercount" may require an adjustment in the death toll, Fricker said.
Uh-huh.
The "surge" in March deaths "could be explained in part by," sigh!
Last week the state medical examiner’s office sent an e-mail on behalf of the governor’s office asking whether funeral directors had noticed a spike in home deaths, according to C.R. Lyons, president of the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association. The April 14 e-mail indicated that the governor wanted an answer that afternoon.
You might want to read fine print to get to the bottom of the e-mail from that troubled office before working your way up.
I guess the wait for your deceased death certificate will be taking even longer, huh?
Sixteen funeral directors — a sliver of the association’s 500 members — responded and said they hadn’t noticed a jump in home deaths.
I'm sorry, can you say that again?
Readers, there IS NO COVID CRISIS!
It is all in fact a great con job and absolute hoax!
The state’s official death count Wednesday rose to 2,182, jumping by 221, the largest single-day increase of the pandemic.
Why would I believe anything they say at this point?
They lie!
Massachusetts had one of the nation’s earliest known instances of coronavirus, with its first confirmed case Feb. 1. Another seven weeks would pass before the state had its first confirmed fatality on March 20. The death toll rose gradually until surging more recently.
Officials across the country are scrambling to assess the earliest cases tied to the pandemic. Just this week, health officials in Santa Clara County, Calif., announced autopsy results had determined coronavirus contributed to the deaths of two people on Feb. 6 and Feb. 17 in their homes. Those deaths occurred weeks before what had been the first known COVID-19 fatality in the United States, in Washington state.
I mentioned that earlier and it will come up again below. They are now trying to backfill death figures because the disease is not as fatal as they have been screaming. It's the seasonal flu gussied up in the cloak of medical tyranny.
In Massachusetts, the state medical examiner’s office began on March 3 to administer nasal swab tests on people who died at home — or outside of hospitals and nursing homes — and were suspected of having COVID-19. A spokesman said they’ve tested about 60 people, and of those, six tested positive for COVID-19. Those positive cases were all in April.
The swabs do not work and cause pain, people!
So how many of the 10% infected in the undertaker's office die?
None?
That would be a 0% fatality rate, right?
Concern about undercounted deaths is not unique to Massachusetts. In Detroit as well as in New York City, for instance, authorities have responded to a surge of calls for in-home deaths and those who died outside of hospitals compared to earlier years, according to recent findings by ProPublica, which also highlighted a surge of home deaths here in Middlesex County.
How many people, on average, die outside of the hospitals?
Dear reader, there is no context here. It is just Globe hacks shoveling sh....
The New York Times has tracked a similar phenomenon in 11 countries around the world, finding at least 25,000 more people died over the last month than the official COVID-19 death toll. The totals include deaths from COVID-19 and other causes, likely including people who could not be treated as hospitals became overwhelmed.
They rushed it out to counteract the study from USC!
Related:
"Progressive policy ideas have dominated the early stages of the Democratic primary campaign, but Democratic voters may be seeking more moderate options. Only 1 in 4 Democratic voters said they would favor eliminating private health insurance and replacing it with a government-run plan — the centerpiece of the “Medicare for All” proposals put forward by Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and only 1 in 3 favors making public college tuition free for all Americans regardless of income, another idea shared by the two leading progressives in the race. Those results, from a survey conducted this month for The New York Times by the online research firm SurveyMonkey, are striking because past polls, including those from the Times, have shown broad-based support for progressive ideas among Democrats. Last month, 81 percent of Democrats said they approved of Medicare for All; in July, 82 percent said they supported making public colleges free for all, but those earlier surveys asked simple yes-or-no questions. The most recent survey offered respondents more options to choose from, and it found that Democratic voters consistently preferred policies that were well to the left of current law but were more moderate than those proposed by Sanders and Warren. Most Democrats, for example — 58 percent — said they would like to make government-run insurance universally available while allowing people to keep their private insurance if they prefer it, a policy similar to the “Medicare for all who want it” plan proposed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and a related proposal from former vice president Joe Biden. The preference for more moderate policies cuts across age groups, races, education levels, and even ideology: Among Democrats who said they were “liberal” or “very liberal,” only 30 percent chose the most progressive option for health care reform. The Times survey showed similar results when it came to “free college” proposals......"
One hardly knows where to begin with that steaming swirly of perception management and narrative creation.
So within a month, the 80% of the people that make up the Democratic voting block abandoned incredibly popular programs because of a poll the New York Times commissioned?
Yeah, this is the end of the road.
Undercounting coronavirus-related deaths is not surprising, said Dr. Howard Forman, a professor of public health and management at Yale University and an emergency department physician at Yale New Haven Hospital. Forman suspects missed COVID-19 fatalities will likely be concentrated in poor and immigrant neighborhoods and communities of color, where there has been a historic mistrust of the health care industry.
“Eventually the uncounted deaths will be sorted out and it will highlight this in a way like no one has ever imagined,” Forman said. “This is going to be a band-aid that will come off and expose just how horrible health disparities are.”
This crisis has made me never want to go to the doctor again, and I wonder if the good doctor is a member of Skull & Bones like Bush and Kerry.
Forman said he believes that much earlier in the outbreak, in February and early March, his hospital and many others inadvertently missed some COVID-19 deaths among patients with pneumonia because few thought to check for coronavirus among such elderly, sick patients. Now, he said, it’s routine testing, but he worries that some states that may not be aggressively testing in nursing homes may still be missing COVID-19 deaths.
“If it’s not in their best interest to be looking for COVID deaths then they’re not finding it,” Forman said. “When you are dealing with an older population or an under-resourced population, it’s easier to say they died from pneumonia.”
Which they probably did, not COVID related, or the test for corona comes back positive because we all have some remnants in our bodies from past flus. Devious!
The other $ide of that is that the hospitals are in fact benefiting from misdiagnosing cases!
--more--"
Physical therapist Lauren Detmer was greeted by applauding co-workers as she returned to work at Mass. General after being infected with coronavirus. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
That photo was carried above the fold, and is in-your-face offensive given the alleged surge in cases and deaths that have been accompanied with the dancing videos. I guess they have nothing better to do, and the body language of the recipient excuses the shame of guilt based on a charade.
(below fold)
"Medical workers return to work after recovering from coronavirus. But are they immune? No one knows for sure; Recovered staff generally protect themselves on the job as if they had no immunity" by Liz Kowalczyk and Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Globe Staff, April 22, 2020
Lauren Detmer, a front-line worker at Massachusetts General Hospital, returned to a hero’s welcome after being isolated at home for three weeks with COVID-19. Forty of her colleagues in green scrubs and blue masks lined a hospital hallway at 7:30 a.m. and, when she rounded the corner, erupted into applause, but Detmer also finds herself in the center of a coronavirus medical puzzle: Are those who’ve recovered immune from future infections? Is COVID-19 like many other infectious diseases in that way?
I wonder if her posture was akin to a war vet who had seen and participated in war crimes and knew the pre$$ narrative of things was a crock of shit before committing suicide.
Speaking of that, 23 or more a day do just that, and I'll bet they are all designated COVID now.
That question is particularly consequential for the hundreds of hospital workers returning to their jobs, many of whom head right back into caring for infected patients. Based on past experience with the flu and some other viruses, recovered COVID-19 victims might expect some immunity, but scientists said it’s too early to know if that is so — and how powerful or modest that protection might be.
"There are no answers right now,'' said Detmer, a physical therapist who works with patients in Mass. General’s ICUs, on her first day back. "I am going to pretend I never had it.''
OMFG, she probably never did!
This is fictitious fakery, folks!
So, she said, before heading into a patient’s room, she plans to carefully dress in full protective gear: a gown, gloves, N95 mask and face shield, just like her colleagues.
The plight of returning hospital workers has highlighted other unknowns about how hospitals screen for the potential contagiousness of this virus and make decisions about who can safely treat infected patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has two standards for when an infected health care worker is safe to return to work, so they won’t infect colleagues or patients.....
I'd rather die at home.
--more--"
Related:
"A Hyde Park man was charged Wednesday for allegedly breaking into the cars of two emergency room nurses’ while they were working at Boston Children’s Hospital over the Easter weekend, according to police. Tomongo Bey, 53, was arrested at his home around 10 a.m. on a warrant charging him with breaking and entering into a vehicle in the daytime and vandalism, police said in a statement. He allegedly broke into the cars of two nurses on April 11 and April 12. One nurse reported that her front passenger window was smashed and her car was “damaged extensively,” the statement said. Her purse containing a pair of sunglasses, Apple AirPods, and her checkbook had been stolen. The other nurse reported that the front driver’s side window had been smashed and the door panel was damaged, police said. A wallet containing gift cards and her health insurance car was stolen. After an investigation, detectives identified Bey as the suspect and obtained a warrant for his arrest from Roxbury District Court. Bey was found to have two additional outstanding warrants out of Middlesex Superior Court for four counts of breaking and entering into a vehicle in the nighttime, two counts of larceny over $1,200, and four counts of malicious destruction of property, police said."
The Globe says there is an untapped pool of foreign health care professionals that should be licensed.
All I can say is have mercy and forget the CT Scan.
"Why the number of asymptomatic coronavirus cases matters; A significant number of infected people never feel sick at all. This is good news and bad news" by Dasia Moore Globe Staff, April 22, 2020
Coronavirus testing efforts in Boston and Chelsea led researchers to a startling discovery: A large number of people have been walking around with COVID-19 and don’t even know it. In fact, they may run the entire course of the virus without ever experiencing the slightest of symptoms — even as they travel in their communities and potentially infect relatives and strangers.
Maybe they never did have it, or only have residual antibodies of past flus, or maybe the agenda-pushing pre$$ and authorities are lying. I mean, What If....?
In Boston, health officials set out to see how the virus was spreading among the homeless population. What they did not expect to find was that over half the people who tested positive did not feel sick at all, and last week, researchers in Chelsea found a similar trend. Of 200 passersby on the street who agreed to have their blood samples taken, 63 tested positive for antibodies that suggested they had been sick with COVID-19. Of those, 25 said they hadn’t felt sick at all.
Maybe they never were.
Residents of Chelsea lineup to get a rapid fingerstick blood test from Partners Healthcare workers for the coronavirus. (Stan Grossfeld/ Globe Staff)
These so-called asymptomatic cases have wide-ranging implications for what we know about how the virus is spreading. They reveal the true, overwhelming scope, but the fact that so many people have already been infected — and felt fine — also provides a glimmer of hope.
First, the bad news:
A high number of asymptomatic cases means the coronavirus has likely spread farther and faster than official data suggest, with many cases flying under the radar. It also means containing the virus will be difficult.
“This makes stamping out transmission basically impossible,” said Dr. Sarah Fortune, chair of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. People without symptoms are less likely to self-quarantine and more likely to spread the virus unwittingly.
Even if COVID-19 does not make an infected person sick, “it’s still dangerous for their family members who are at risk, or their neighbors or their co-workers,” said Dr. John Iafrate, vice chairman of Massachusetts General Hospital’s pathology department and the principal investigator behind a study that revealed asymptomatic cases in Chelsea, but there is good news, too.
If coronavirus cases are more common than originally thought — and in many cases far less severe — communities with high rates of infection might already be past the worst of the pandemic. “It does suggest [Massachusetts] might be closer to the end,” Fortune said. “It’s fair to say we are probably at the top of a flattened peak.”
Even if(!), if(!), might be, might be!
They destroyed livelihoods over what might have been, and we still need to be locked down?
Moving toward herd immunity
Growing awareness of asymptomatic cases is closely tied to researchers’ and public health officials’ understanding of one important factor in curbing the pandemic: immunity.
People become immune to an infectious disease by either being vaccinated or surviving infection, but once enough individuals in a community are immune, the spread of the disease slows almost to a halt — even among those who have not been inoculated. This is what epidemiologists call herd immunity.
“Once you have enough people infected" in a community, Iafrate explained, "it’s difficult for the virus to get back in.”
Which means KEEPING US APART is actually KEEPING the VIRUS HEALTHY!
HOW EVIL!
Herd immunity is an elusive goal, but the prevalence of asymptomatic cases gives some reason to believe we can reach it — without everyone suffering critical illness, or any sickness at all. Even when infected people do not experience symptoms, they build antibodies that help fight the infection.
Like a master race?
“That is good news for an individual and for the idea of herd immunity in their city," said Iafrate, but many questions remain about immunity to COVID-19.
“What we really need to understand is how strong is that immune response that can kill the virus, and how long does it last before there’s a risk for reinfection," said Dr. David Hamer, an infectious disease expert at Boston Medical Center and a professor at Boston University. Unfortunately, he continued, “We don’t really have a lot of information.”
That's upon what they have been making decisions.
It also remains unclear exactly what it would take to reach herd immunity. “We don’t know what level of immunity we need to have in a population to protect against COVID," said Dr. Vivek Naranbhai, a clinical fellow in hematology and oncology who works alongside Iafrate.
What is considered herd immunity varies from disease to disease based on how easily infected people pass the disease along to others. For highly contagious measles, for example, 95 percent of people must be immune to protect the entire population, but until we know exactly how easily COVID-19 is transmitted, we cannot know what herd immunity requires.
Social distancing is still important
That many people have already been infected without experiencing symptoms does not mean it is safe to end preventive measures. "We still need to keep social distancing in place,” said Hamer.
Then this isn't about contagion or COVID-19.
Even if people with antibodies could be assured of their own immunity, they would still risk passing COVID-19 on to others. That is because people who test positive for antibodies can still test positive for the virus, meaning they remain infected and infectious. “Antibody tests don’t give you a ticket to change your protective behavior," Naranbhai said.
Even if again, and I no longer believe in your tests!
Even if new information about testing cannot bring an abrupt end to social distancing, it does provide public officials with invaluable information about the true scope of the virus.
Even if!
“This information has helped the city of Chelsea mobilize more resources,” said Naranbhai. Since learning that infections were even more widespread than previously thought, he said, city officials have worked to provide services like food delivery and safe housing to residents for whom social distancing had been difficult.
Those measures pave the way for ending the pandemic. “If we can take even just a little bit off the top of the curve," Naranbhai said, “that’s what this is all about.”
I stopped being afraid weeks ago.
Now I'm angry.
--more--"
Well, you know the old saying, a laugh turner away wrath:
"Johns Hopkins University, whose researchers have been at the forefront of the global response to the new coronavirus, is expecting to cut salaries and furlough and lay off employees because of multimillion-dollar losses arising from the pandemic, its president has announced. The private university’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering has played a globally prominent role in tracking and modeling the spread of the virus, but the university said the reductions would have no impact on its data-gathering and research on the virus. University president Ronald Daniels wrote in a letter posted online Tuesday that the private research university in Baltimore expects to lose more than $100 million by the end of June and as much as $375 million during the coming fiscal year. Before the outbreak, the university had projected a positive margin of $72 million this fiscal year in an overall budget of $6.5 billion."
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
The simulators are cutting staff and pleading poverty!
Maybe some will come forward and blow the whistle on the fraudulent models and Event 201!
They should go ask Gates and Bloomberg for more dough, and speak of the devil:
"Former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg will assist in creating a “tracing army” that will help find people infected with the coronavirus and get them into isolation, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. New York will coordinate the massive effort with neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut, accounting for the large number of people who commute into New York City for work. Wide-scale testing, tracing, and isolation are considered crucial to taming the outbreak in the hard-hit region. New York City, with more than 8 million people, is an epicenter of the pandemic, and tracing infected people in the wider metropolitan area will be a gargantuan task. More than 257,000 people statewide have already tested positive for COVID-19 — a figure that probably undercounts infected residents by a substantial amount. Cuomo aims to double the number of daily tests in the state from to 40,000. The governor said that “we will literally need thousands” of people to trace the contacts of infected people. The state currently has just 225 tracers, with almost 500 more in New York City and its suburbs. Their efforts to contain the virus by finding people who had contact with the sick fell apart quickly as huge numbers of people in the region fell ill. Cuomo said they will start to build a greater force of disease detectives by drawing from 35,000 medical students at state and city universities, as well as from the state health department and other agencies. The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University will create an online curriculum and training program. Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide support to help build and run the program. The philanthropic group will also contribute $10.5 million. Bloomberg, in a prepared statement, said the ramped up testing and tracing “will help us drive the virus into a corner.” Speaking shortly before Cuomo outlined his tracing plan, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio outlined what he called a test-and-trace plan that he said would be run by the city. The mayor said that once widespread testing for the virus is available the city will need as many as 10,000 contact tracers, including city workers and employees of nonprofit groups that work with the city."
Almost as if they were recruits being drafted.
"Standing in front of an empty storefront along Main Street, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman was beaming with hopeful optimism, believing that businesses would make it through the coronavirus pandemic. ‘‘We’re all together in this, and we are going to come out with a bang,’’ she said earlier this month. On Tuesday, it became apparent what the independent mayor might have had in mind. She said she wants to open up the casinos, assuming that 100 percent of the population are carriers of the novel coronavirus. Let them, and visitors, gather and gamble, smoke in confined spaces, touch slot machines all day — and let the chips. and apparently the infections, fall where they may. ‘‘Assume everybody is a carrier,’’ the mayor told MSNBC Tuesday, ‘‘and then you start from an even slate, and tell the people what to do, and let the businesses open and competition will destroy that business if, in fact, they become evident that they have disease, they’re closed down. It’s that simple.’’ That perspective left host Katy Tur visibly dumbfounded. While Goodman said she was taking direction from Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, the mayor’s plan, described by Tur as ‘‘a modern-day survival of the fittest,’’ was in fact the exact opposite of what he advises. Goodman, who has criticized Nevada’s lockdown as ‘‘total insanity,’’ cited lesser outbreaks of infectious diseases to prove that Las Vegas, which faces a deficit of nearly $150 million in the next 18 months, had shown the kind of resiliency necessary for it to reopen. ‘‘We’ve survived the West Nile and SARS, bird flu, E. coli, swine flu, the Zika virus,’’ she told MSNBC. She was cut off by Tur, who reminded the mayor that those viruses did not come close to the level of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 800,000 confirmed cases and 45,000 deaths in the United States as of early Wednesday."
Looks like Goodman is going to have to largely go it alone like in Georgia.
"Coronavirus death in California came weeks before first known US death" by Thomas Fuller and Mike Baker New York Times, April 22, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO — Officials in Santa Clara County, Calif., announced late Tuesday that two residents there died of the coronavirus in early and mid-February, making them the earliest known victims of the pandemic in the United States.
The new information may shift the timeline of the virus’s spread through the country weeks earlier than previously believed.
The first report of a coronavirus-related death in the United States came Feb. 29 in the Seattle area, although officials there later discovered that two people who had died Feb. 26 also had the virus, but Santa Clara County officials said that autopsies of two people who died at their homes Feb. 6 and Feb. 17 showed that the individuals were infected with the virus. The presence of the disease COVID-19 was determined by tissue samples and was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, county health officials said in a statement.
So they are claiming.
“Each one of those deaths is probably the tip of an iceberg of unknown size,” said Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s chief medical officer. “It feels quite significant.”
Now they are going to go back to the beginning of February and calculate all the deaths as COVID?
Cody said the individuals who died in February did not have any known travel histories that would have exposed them to the virus, which first appeared in China. They are presumed to have contracted the virus in the community, she said.
Obviously, we can no longer ask them. It's like the shooters.
The newly reported deaths suggest that the coronavirus may have been spreading in California much earlier than was previously known, said Dr. Jeffrey V. Smith, the Santa Clara county executive and a medical doctor. “It was probably around unrecognized for quite some time,” Smith said.
The USC study would also suggest that, probably.
It was unclear early Wednesday why it had taken so long to identify the February deaths as caused by the coronavirus.
I think it is pretty clear. With each passing day the veil of this fraud collapses.
Much debate has centered on the question of when the virus arrived in the United States and how early it began to spread among people. Problems and delays slowed the availability of widespread testing for the virus, which has killed more than 40,000 people nationwide.
In January, authorities identified a series of coronavirus cases from travelers abroad, but they did not identify any community spread of the virus for several weeks.
The federal government had strict rules on who qualified for coronavirus testing, and test kits developed by the CDC — that public health labs began receiving Feb. 7 — turned out to be faulty. Strict definitions of who could be tested limited what local health officials could do to find out how widespread the virus might be.
“We had to ask the CDC every single time: Does this person meet the case definition? May we send a sample?” Cody said. “We had this very, very uncomfortable feeling that we were hearing about a lot of patients who really felt that they were cases but we couldn’t test,” she said.
Other indications have emerged that the virus may have been spreading earlier than previously known. The Grand Princess cruise ship that departed San Francisco on Feb. 11 had passengers who developed the coronavirus on board. Researchers believe that the virus also began to circulate in the New York area by mid-February, and in early March, researchers found a range of cases with genetic similarities to each other in the Seattle area, suggesting that it had been spreading undetected for weeks.
Then we have more herd immunity than previously thought.
In Santa Clara County, Cody said that the picture of the spread was becoming clearer but that there were still gaps.
Always a could be, if, but, maybe with these guys.
“We had so few pixels you could hardly pick out the image,” she said. “Suddenly we have many pixels that all of sudden that we didn’t even realize that we were looking for,” but, she added, “I can’t put the story together yet.”
On March 16, Santa Clara County was among the first counties in the nation to announce stay-at-home orders. “Clearly in retrospect that was a good decision,” Cody said. “Now we see there was even more transmission than we recognized.”
Although California was an early state to report that individuals were carrying the virus, it has had one-tenth the number of deaths as New York state, the hardest-hit place in America. Officials believe that the early imposition of stay-at-home orders and the state’s lower population density are among factors that have helped California avoid the worst so far.
--more--"
Also see:
"Roche CEO Severin Schwan blasted competitors whose tests for potential immunity to the coronavirus have been subject to high-profile flops. Tests for antibodies to the virus have been so unreliable that the UK, Spain, and parts of the United States said they won’t be useful. The reason, according to Schwan, is that such tests are easy to develop, but devilishly hard to get right. ‘‘Every kind of amateur can produce an antibody test,’’ Schwan said on a call with reporters Wednesday. ‘‘The question is, does it really work?’’
Related:
Redfield Warns of Relapse
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Explains Why He Says ‘the CDC is Actually a Vaccine Company’
That's Redfield's beat, and he was pushing the flu shot for this fall.
Bill Gates Continues To Push “Immunity Passports” And Tech-Enabled Surveillance State To Combat COVID
That's to monitoring the public after the coronavirus as we head for Dystopia after Project Zyphr.
Meanwhile, here in Massachusetts, the "numbers are numbing. Every day, the grim tallies rise. Not along a steady incline, which would be bad enough, but by jarring, exponential leaps unthinkable just a few weeks ago....."
It all started at the Biogen meeting, remember?
"Mass. reports 221 new coronavirus deaths, 1,745 new cases; Baker says nearly 4,000 hospitalized" by Danny McDonald and Jeremy C. Fox Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, April 22, 2020
The number of coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts soared past the 2,000 mark Wednesday, as the state continued to experience a surge of cases at its hospitals, officials said.
The death count rose by 221, the largest single-day total yet, to 2,182. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed by 1,745 to 42,944, according to data released by the state Department of Public Health.
Boston once again had the most COVID-19 cases: 6,744 — an increase of more than 2,000 over last week’s total, according to the data.
Chelsea, which has been called one of the outbreak’s epicenters, saw its cases more than double, to 1,447. Its rate of 3,842 cases per 100,000 people was once again the state’s highest.
Most of the other hardest-hit cities remained the same as in data released last week by the DPH, including Brockton, Everett, Randolph, Lynn, and Lawrence, but the small town of Topsfield, with a population of about 6,000, added 60 new cases in the week ending April 21, bringing its rate among the highest in the state: 1,300 cases per 100,000 people.
Danvers also saw a significant increase, jumping from 190 to 316 cases of the virus, which bumped the town’s infection rate from 665 cases per 100,000 residents to 1,107 per 100,000.
Danvers Town Manager Steve Bartha attributed the increase to Danvers’s large number of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities where “the National Guard has come in and done wall-to-wall testing.” By conducting tests on residents without symptoms, he said, the Guard identified many more cases of infection than were previously known.
They are frightening seniors and everyone else.
“From the get-go we’ve been cautioning that this virus was coming, that it doesn’t really pay attention to town borders, and that once testing ramped up we expected to see an increase,” Bartha said in a phone interview.
Nearly 4,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, the DPH data said.
That's overrunning all the hospitals?
Governor Charlie Baker at his daily media briefing urged residents to continue social distancing efforts and other safeguards in the fight against the pandemic.
Roughly 56 percent of the state’s approximately 18,000 hospital beds remain unoccupied, the DPH said. Baker said officials are continually monitoring capacity as hospital beds fill up with coronavirus patients. Five temporary hospitals have opened around the state to handle any surge.
So it's less than a fifth of the beds occupied, and the temporary hospitals are looking not go unused since we are over or near the end of this according to the articles above.
WTF?
While officials have seen fewer or roughly the same number of confirmed cases over the last few days, Baker said, the public should not interpret that as a sign that the virus is diminishing in strength. “We think it’s too soon to draw a conclusion from that,” Baker said.
He drew plenty of conclusions based on the crap models in order to kill small business in this state!
The governor reiterated that he understood the desire of residents to return to normal; however, Baker said, “for Massachusetts, which is now a national hot spot for COVID-19 infections, we really do need to stay the course and keep up our efforts” around social distancing and other measures. “If we move too quickly, we risk losing the progress that we have made so far.”
Among the reasons why Massachusetts is a hot spot, Baker said, is the state’s high level of testing, its densely populated areas, and its connection to the global economy. “We need everybody out there to participate in this community tracing program,” Baker said.
He really is turning into a Stalin.
“We need to be on the other side of the curve before we do any of this stuff,” Baker said, adding that researchers now believe between 20 and 40 percent of people infected with the virus could be asymptomatic and not know they have it. “This is not like the flu,” Baker said, speaking slowly for emphasis. “If you get the flu, you know it and everybody else knows it.”
He's a total tool and evil f**k.
Turning to national politics, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, speaking during a later briefing outside Boston City Hall, said he was upset when President Trump announced earlier this week that he planned to close the United States to people trying to immigrate. Walsh called the idea a “foolish policy” that would serve only as a distraction. Immigrants, he said, are integral to an array of industries in Boston, including health care, construction, hospitality, and food.
I wouldn't be worrying about those last two. They are dead.
Baker was also critical of the idea on Tuesday.
Yeah, don't let anything get in the way of any parts of the agenda. Never mind the risk.
Asked when construction in the city could start to ramp up, Walsh said there is no specific date, adding that city authorities would discuss it in coming weeks. The vast majority of construction in the city is currently suspended because of the pandemic.
Walsh was also asked if he still thinks the Boston Marathon will take place on its new date of Sept. 14, in light of the fact that organizers of the Berlin Marathon announced Tuesday that their race won’t go forward as scheduled on Sept. 27.
The mayor said he was aware of the Berlin cancellation, but city officials “haven’t had those conversations yet.”
The pandemic has sickened more than 2.5 million people globally and killed more than 179,000. In the United States, more than 826,000 people have been sickened and more than 45,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
That's a claimed death rate of 7% globally and 5.5% nationally, according to JHU?
Maybe they should rehire some of those let go to check the numbers.
A highly cited University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model as of Monday predicted about 3,900 coronavirus deaths will occur in Massachusetts.
Oh, the Washington model they were arguing about last week.
While the state is in the midst of a surge of severely ill patients, officials increasingly are optimistic that the wave, while deadly, will not overwhelm the state’s hospitals.....
They prematurely killed an economy.
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BOOOOOOO!
"Lax management, pay irregularities rampant at state’s Environmental Police force, report says" by Matt Rocheleau Globe Staff, April 22, 2020
Years of poor oversight and sloppy record keeping at the Massachusetts Environmental Police have led to pay irregularities and the potential for overtime abuse within the agency, according to a new state watchdog report.
Oh, just like the now-forgotten $tate police $cam.
The report, issued Tuesday by the state auditor’s office, stopped short of alleging payroll fraud, but determined the state law enforcement agency may have improperly paid tens of thousands of dollars worth of overtime to dozens of officers.
The police force, with about 85 officers and a $12 million annual budget, enforces fishing, hunting, boating, and recreational vehicle laws. The low-profile agency has come under repeated scrutiny in recent years for management and pay problems.
“This is not the first time that the agency has been called out for its lax practices,” said a statement from Auditor Suzanne M. Bump, whose office released the report Tuesday. "I hope this audit helps ensure it is the last time.”
It will not be, and this is a further example of the patronage problem that has infested all state agencies in Ma$$achu$etts. $tate government has become a place to get pay, pensions, and perks for yourself, your friends, and other well-connected intere$ts and concerns.
The auditor’s investigation covered two years of operations under former Colonel James McGinn, who was fired in fall 2018 amid ticket-fixing allegations. McGinn, a former State Police sergeant, had served as Governor Charlie Baker’s personal campaign driver before Baker appointed him to the agency’s helm in 2014.
OMG!
Yet there is Chuck every day basking in the media glow of coronavirus pre$$ conferences as he issues diktats.
The audit alleged the department may have improperly paid out overtime to officers on 327 occasions between July 2016 and June 2018. The report said the potentially unnecessary payments went to 65 officers and collectively totaled as much as $42,623. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Maura Healey said her office will review the auditor’s report.
Related:
"Attorney General Maura Healey is scrutinizing Bank of America, Santander, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo over how they handled a $349 billion federal loan program designed to help small businesses, after her office fielded numerous complaints alleging an unfair process that favored big customers....."
Too late, money gone, and I'm not interested in some sort of kickback to the $tate disguised as a fine.
The report included responses from the agency, which vowed to make changes in some areas. The police force, now led by Colonel Shaun Santos, also took umbrage with some of the methods auditors used to analyze payroll and timekeeping records and auditors’ interpretations of certain policies.
Baker’s office referred a request for comment to the agency.
Yeah, he's busy.
The average base pay of environmental officers is about $85,000, though in recent years about half the force has earned six-figure annual payouts with overtime and private details. The highest-paid officer made $202,758 last year, including $38,652 in overtime and nearly $73,694 from details and other pay, records show.
Imagine the cu$hy pen$ion they will be receiving at your expense, out of work taxpayers!
The audit began in February 2019, just months after the firing of McGinn, who presided over a number of payroll-related controversies.
Baker's personal driver?
In the fall of 2016, a series of media reports exposed the agency’s split-shift practice. WCVB also found some officers spent work hours at home or sitting in their trucks during security details. A WBZ-TV report detailed how time sheets showed no gaps in time for officers to travel between shifts.
The revelations prompted a wide-ranging internal review in late 2016, leading to discipline for one officer who split shifts inappropriately and another who worked from home without permission. The agency vowed to curb split shifts, but in the summer of 2018, the Globe reported the practice had continued.
McGinn was fired in the fall of 2018 for allegedly fixing two traffic tickets, installing unauthorized surveillance cameras, and hiring a private investigator to follow an officer. Last summer, McGinn filed a federal lawsuit asserting that he was wrongfully terminated as retaliation for reporting unethical and illegal conduct within the agency. The suit is still pending.....
He was a man before his time.
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Related:
"The state pension fund is confident that, despite the volatility that has rocked financial markets over the last six weeks or so, it will have no problem paying out roughly $1.3 billion for pension benefits this year. The Pension Reserves Investment Management Board’s Investment Committee held a special meeting via Zoom and conference call Wednesday after PRIM received a “large volume of inquiries” about the fund’s performance during the first quarter, which closed at the end of March, Executive Director Michael Trotsky said. Trotsky talked the committee through some of the current market conditions and how his team has adjusted to working remotely and managing a $70.7 billion state pension fund through uncertain times. He stressed that the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund is “not facing liquidity stress as a result of the recent volatility.” “We draw approximately a billion-three [$1.3 billion] annually to pay benefits and we are easily able to meet all of those commitments,” Trotsky said. “So if [Deputy Treasurer and Executive Director of the State Retirement Board] Nick Favorito is on the line listening, and I’m sure you are, we feel confident that we’ll continue to have no problem paying pension benefits.” The retirement funds of state employees, teachers and many municipal employees in Massachusetts are invested through PRIM. (SHNS)"
Oh, good! I was worried that the government leeches wouldn't be taken care of.
Baker literally has the power of life and death over people:
"Hundreds more businesses plead with Baker administration to be deemed essential; Pet groomers, hair salons, construction companies all lobbied the state to reopen this month" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff, April 22, 2020
The requests keep coming to join that exclusive organization: the Essential Services club.
Who’s in and who’s out? Governor Charlie Baker overhauled the first list of essential businesses on March 31, while extending the shutdown for everyone else until May 4. The goal is public health, flattening the curve during the pandemic, but for business owners cooling their heels, it can be quite frustrating.
Some lucky businesses — bike shops, landscapers, chiropractors among them — were able to get themselves included by knocking loudly enough, but others want in, too: About 700 businesses that were shut out the first time have used a state-run online portal to lobby for inclusion, and the administration has separately received hundreds of e-mails to that effect. They came from all over the state, from the Berkshires to Barnstable.
The most vocal industry this month? Pet groomers probably win the prize, based on data released to the Globe by the Baker administration, but there are plenty of others: hair salons and barber shops, furniture sellers, swimming pool services, boatyards, florists, photographers, sign-makers.
A wedding shop on Cape Cod wants to allow anxious brides to pick up the dresses they ordered. An indoor cycling studio in Somerville wants to offer virtual classes. There was a maintainer of church organs, as well as someone who uses border collies to control wild geese. At least two golf courses took their shot, even though the administration has made it clear it wants to see only lawn maintenance on the greens, not line drives.
Doesn't want to make Marty mad?
Many requests came from construction companies whose projects were halted suddenly on April 1, when Baker deemed most commercial construction work to be nonessential. Among the projects caught in the crossfire: a new headquarters in Needham for International Data Corp. and its IDG media affiliate, the renovation of the California Pizza Kitchen in the Back Bay, and a new research lab for Selecta Biosciences in Watertown.
He's the decider!
Nearly all the requests came from small businesses; however, at least four big retail chains pleaded their case this month: Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Talbots, and Nordstrom. (None of the four chains could be reached for comment.)
The administration’s stance on e-commerce has become more restrictive this month, not less. Warehouse operations had been allowed, but the state issued new rules on April 7 to offer some clarity: Online operators whose brick and mortar operations were already closed and deemed nonessential — such as furniture shops and most apparel stores — wouldn’t be able to run warehouses, either.
The administration’s stated intent: to substantially limit the number of workplaces open during this state of emergency to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus.
Baker is widely expected to extend the shutdown order beyond May 4. If that happens, joining the Essential Services club would become more important than ever for the businesses left out in the cold.....
The means the gun shops, the pot shops, and most everyone else.
--more--"
Looks like a rebellion may be stirring:
"Middleborough gun store among pockets of resistance to coronavirus retail closures in Mass.; Gun store has stayed open despite mandate it close" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, April 22, 2020
MIDDLEBOROUGH — With a Trump 2020 flag fluttering in the background, John Costa stood shoulder to shoulder with a Republican activist Tuesday outside his firearms shop, The Gunrunner, all while a Facebook live stream captured the small, five-person rally honoring his defiance.
It's a start.
“I’m making a killing!" said Costa, who has refused to close his store despite Governor Charlie Baker’s order for a swath of businesses, including firearms retailers, to shutter amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and a cease-and-desist order issued by Middleborough officials demanding he do the same.
“In this country, we only have two leaders,” Costa said into the iPhone camera broadcasting the feed. “God, No. 1. And Trump.”
Costa’s open disregard is an extreme example of the pockets of disobedience that have sprouted in the face of Baker’s nonessential business closure order, putting local boards of health on the lookout for companies unaware of the need, or unwilling, to close their doors as officials attempt to slow the virus’s spread.
Among the state’s 250,000-plus registered businesses, state officials say, the scale is relatively small. The state’s Department of Labor Standards said it’s issued cease-and-desist orders to 123 companies, shuttering more than 350 locations statewide since the order was issued four weeks ago. Another 50 or so remain “under investigation,” according to the department.
The figure does not include any orders issued by municipalities, which have largely shouldered enforcement of the statewide directive. That also makes it difficult to identify an exact number of times officials have had to step in to close businesses across Massachusetts.
In Boston, city officials say they have identified fewer than two dozen businesses that were operating in violation of Baker’s order, a list mainly of hair and nail salons and at least 10 flower shops. In none of the cases, did the city issue fines that can range up to $300 under the order, which also warns that criminal penalties are possible.
Towns and cities are seeing common threads. Pet groomers, smoke shops, even car washes — in many cases, “think they’re essential” even though they’re not, said Cheryl Sbarra, director of policy and law for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards. “There’ll always be outliers,” said Sbarra, whose organization provides legal education for towns and cities, “but from my understanding, they are few and far between.”
You know who I think is a non-essential outlier?
In Wakefield, owner Mark Panagakis has kept open Mark’s Smoke Stand & News Stand, where he said he sells many of the same items convenience stores do, such as water, cigarettes, and Lottery tickets. He said that given he sells newspapers, he also believes he falls under the exemption carved out for “workers who support radio, television, newspaper, and media service." (That’s generally been applied to reporters and news organizations.)
Yeah, the propaganda narrative is e$$ential.
It wasn’t an issue until this week, when a representative of the Mystic Valley Public Health Coalition contacted him warning he would be issued a cease-and-desist order unless he closed.
“We’re not trying to be rebels or anything. We thought we were fine,” Panagakis said. “I’m definitely going to challenge [the order]. We’re trying to do everything the right way.”
Just trying to $urvive, right?
Most noncompliance, officials said, was born from some early uncertainty around Baker’s March 23 order, when thousands of businesses flooded the Baker administration with inquiries about what it considered “essential” and whether they could be included. A week later, Baker updated the order, expanding both what could remain open and how long the closures would last; closures are now in effect until at least May 4.
Longer if the reporting above is to be believed.
As the weeks have worn on, however, that confusion has been replaced in some cases by impatience.
“Some people are ready to have their businesses reopen — and are maybe a little too eager for that," said Chris English, chief of staff at Boston’s Inspectional Services Department, which on Wednesday issued a stop-work order to a hair salon in Hyde Park. “We know it’s frustrating for a lot of people,” he said.
Do they?
Do they really?
The order has already drawn legal challenges from a group of marijuana businesses and consumers, unsuccessfully challenging the decision to close recreational marijuana shops, and from a coalition of gun shops, advocacy groups, and would-be gun owners who sued in federal court in a bid to allow shuttered firearm dealers to open, but that attempt to keep sales flowing for some has also become an ideological fight elsewhere, with The Gunrunner serving as a local symbol of conservatives’ protest of the restrictions.
Not only that, it is a clear violation of the Second Amendment, but that's just paper.
This it it!
They take your guns away before the extermination begins.
On Tuesday, it drew Dianna Ploss, a Republican activist and talk radio host, to Costa’s store for the makeshift rally, where Costa, Ploss, and others gathered in a small group, none of them wearing masks while they sometimes draped their arms over each other.
“We’re not social-distanced. Are you worried?" Ploss asked Costa at one point.
“I’m not worried at all,” he said.
I cover my face to respect my fellow citizen, but I in no way am fearing them.
On Thursday, Ploss is planning a “Liberate Massachusetts” protest outside the governor’s Swampscott home, according to an e-mail she circulated demanding that the state’s “economy must be reopened” and people’s Second Amendment rights “shall not be infringed.”
Baker did not directly address the possibility of the protest Thursday when asked at a State House news conference, but he said that in reopening the local economy, the decisions are “a little less about essential and nonessential” businesses and more focused on the criteria for any business to be open.
“This isn’t being done to punish anybody. OK?” Baker said of the restrictions. “It’s being done to try to keep people safe and it’s being done based on data and information on an unprecedented virus as we gather it and as it comes together.”
That's why the state has been sparse when it comes to data. He's basing everything on what could happen based on the discredited models.
All the while, challenges roll on. In Middleborough, Costa’s store and another firearms retailer, the Middleboro Gun Shop, are appealing cease-and-desist orders they received to the town’s Board of Selectmen on Monday, according to town officials.
Unlike The Gunrunner, however, the Middleboro Gun Shop has been closed since it was ordered to, said owner Jim Dooley.
“A lot of other people who are staying home, they work from home. They can get their health and welfare taken care of. They can pay their rent. I can’t do that,” said Dooley, who’s frustrated by what he described as drastic differences in enforcement of the restrictions the state has put on daily life.
“We had people golfing over the weekend. What did they get? They just got run off the golf course," he said. "Me, I’m losing tens of thousands of dollars.”
At least you got some firepower when they come to get you.
--more--"
Let the trucks roll:
"Cambridge is sending out ‘sound trucks’ to remind residents to stay 6 feet apart and wear masks during coronavirus pandemic; The vehicles will be deployed to parks and neighborhoods beginning Wednesday" by Steve Annear Globe Staff, April 22, 2020
Scott Pepe, a driver with the city of Cambridge, blasted out warnings about social distancing and wearing masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus as he drove around Porter Square. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
Scott Pepe drove around Porter Square in Cambridge in a "sound truck" that delivered a social-distancing warning. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff).
CAMBRIDGE — Scott Pepe walked out of the Dunkin’ in Porter Square Wednesday afternoon, hopped into his bright-orange Department of Public Works truck with the toy skeleton dangling from the back, and drove down Massachusetts Avenue towards Arlington at a steady pace.
That's a bit morbid, isn't it?
As he passed pedestrians on the sidewalks, cyclists in the adjacent bike lanes, and construction workers near street corners, he turned the volume up on an announcement that played on a constant loop through loudspeakers at the front of the truck.
“A COVID-19 public health stay-at-home advisory remains in effect,” a woman’s voice echoed, bewildering those nearby. “We strongly urge you to wear face coverings when getting groceries and when outside walking, biking, or jogging. Please continue to practice social distancing.”
Pepe was one of two city employees who was out driving around Wednesday in a “sound truck” that disseminated information over a public address system about ways to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
What's the carbon footprint on that?
To start, the trucks will be sent to parks and neighborhoods in Cambridge "where there have been reported social distancing concerns and larger volumes of pedestrian traffic,” officials said in a statement on the city’s website. The vehicles are being rolled out during afternoons and will wrap up their routes before 6 p.m. The prerecorded announcements will be played in multiple languages.
Who snitched?
Pepe’s vehicle traveled the city’s typical Monday trash collection route in North Cambridge Wednesday, as a second truck rode through areas where trash is collected on Fridays, in the Cambridgeport neighborhood.
While Pepe drove along Massachusetts Avenue, the woman’s voice blaring from the hidden speakers was hard to understand over the strong April winds. The few people who were outdoors on an unseasonably cold spring day popped out their earbuds momentarily to listen before they quickly popped them back in again. Others turned their heads, mouths hidden by masks, and then continued on their way unperturbed.
When Pepe got to a more dense area of Cambridge, along side streets near Matignon High School, the announcements pinged through the tight corridors, becoming much louder and clearer. A runner who was passing the school appeared to stick his fingers in his ears mid-stride to block out the repeating messages. He kept chugging along that way until he was out of view.
The truck then crossed Massachusetts Avenue and traveled on back roads towards Russell Field on Rindge Avenue, not far from the MBTA’s Alewife Station. As he drove, Pepe passed a baby in a carriage who couldn’t be roused from its nap by the loudspeakers. Nearby, a man curious about the announcements threw up his hands and laughed when asked what he thought of the city’s newest method of spreading information about the virus.
Pepe said the technique is similar to one used by the city to warn residents to move their cars before street cleaning begins. People — mostly children — had been smiling or waving to him when going by, he said.
For some reason, kids like totalitarian authorities.
“A lot of dogs barking," Pepe added. “I try not to blast it too loud.”
In a joint statement, City Manager Louis A. DePasquale and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui said the state is in a “critical moment in our fight against this pandemic,” and "in order to continue flattening the curve, we strongly urge residents to continue staying home.”
“We understand how difficult it is to be distant from loved ones, the need for social activities and the desire to return to normal life," the statement said, "but we are asking Cambridge residents to remain patient and continue to follow public health guidance.”
That's when the printed sound cut out.
Cambridge isn’t the first community to use city vehicles to get the message out about preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
In Boston on Sunday, seven public works trucks played multilingual messages about the threat of COVID-19 as they drove through neighborhoods that have been hit hard by the spread of the virus.
It must seem like North Korea or China over there.
The announcements reminded residents to “stay home as much as you can . . . Wash your hands often, cover your face when out, and keep your distance from others," according to recordings provided at the time, and last month, Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo used a bullhorn while riding in a city van along Revere Beach to warn crowds looking to order food from takeout restaurants about the outbreak.
Why?
So we will be denied herd immunity?
That way you guys can keep the lockdown going and then jerk us in and out of the house.
When Pepe finally got to Russell Field, the woman’s voice still pouring through the sound system, he turned his truck around in the parking lot before setting out in a different direction.
There were no kids at the playground and no contact sports were being played. A lone goose on the empty baseball field pecked at the grass, ignoring the noise.
Get used to that, Sawx fans.
--more--"
Related:
"Firefighters are calling a man a hero after he rescued three children and a dog from a blaze that tore through a multifamily home in Waterville, Maine Tuesday, Waterville firefighters said in a statement. Aaron Brunelle noticed flames on the outside of his 13 Morrill Ave. home and immediately ran upstairs to notify his neighbors, firefighters said. Brunelle, who lives on the first floor of the home, entered the third floor apartment and found three children and a dog inside. He led them outside to safety just as firefighters arrived, officials said.
It was a “heroic act that likely saved the children’s lives.”
Also see:
"A 42-year-old, Level III3 sex offender charged with kidnapping a juvenile at gunpoint in Roxbury will face additional charges after police recovered two firearms from the suspect’s home Tuesday, Boston police said. Officers recovered two firearms while executing a search warrant at the home of the suspect, identified as Charlese Horton. The specific gun-related charges weren’t immediately disclosed. Horton’s public defender, Rebecca Kozak, said her client denies the allegations and will plead not guilty.“She looks forward to receiving and confronting the search warrant and related police reports,” Kozak said via e-mail. Horton, known previously as Charles Horton, pleaded guilty in 2000 to kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy, a notorious case that led to the resignation of the presiding judge, Maria Lopez, who had sentenced Horton to probation in that matter and publicly berated prosecutors. In the current matter, Horton was arrested Monday night on charges of of assault with a dangerous weapon and kidnapping. Authorities allege that Horton on April 14 lured a juvenile male to a Seaver Street location in Roxbury and pulled a gun on the youth before fleeing when a police cruiser passed by. Horton was ordered held without bail Tuesday in Dorchester Municipal Court, with the arraignment continued to April 27. Kozak said Tuesday that Horton denies the kidnapping and assault charges."
Kidnapping suspect Charlese Horton, 42. (Boston Police Department/Sex Offender Registry Board)
He, 'er, she thinks the name change will get him, 'er, her a new trial.
