Coronavirus outbreak in Massachusetts tied to bachelorette party in Rhode Island
A cluster of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts was traced to a bachelorette party in Rhode Island late last month, Gov. Charlie Baker said. Health officials in both states said 19 guests who attended the late July gathering at an undisclosed location were sickened.
Seventeen were from Massachusetts and two were from Rhode Island. Contact tracing was done on all positive cases.
CBS Boston reports Gov. Charlie Baker brought up the event in a news conference when talking about why "unmanaged" social events are the biggest concern for coronavirus spread.
"The big challenge for us is to is to bring that kind of discipline to other kinds of events where people clearly haven't been distancing haven't been wearing masks and a lot of these involve what I would describe as events in which people are familiar with one another and they behave like they're familiar with one another," Baker said. "As difficult as it is for all of us, the hugging, the high fiving, the singing along to the songs, whatever it might be, indoors or outdoors, particularly in close quarter environments is just the wrong thing to be doing when you're trying to work your way through a pandemic."
Massachusetts reported 26 newly confirmed coronavirus deaths and more than 300 newly confirmed cases on Wednesday, pushing the state's confirmed COVID-19 death toll to more than 8,750 and its confirmed caseload to more than 117,000.
The seven-day weighted average of positive tests was about 1.1%. The true number of cases is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick.
There were more than 350 people reported hospitalized Wednesday because of COVID-19, while nearly 70 were in intensive care units.
The number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 related deaths at long-term care homes rose to 5,755 or about 64% of all confirmed and probable deaths in Massachusetts attributed to the disease.