Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston: cost of living, photos, recreation)

[justyouraveragetenant]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

I read that one half of the cases in MA are in nursing homes! Apparently the people who work there weren't even being tested. I'm not in MA anymore (now near Hartford) but MA is third in the nation in cases. Is that just because you report more or is it really that bad?

I was following the illness in the UK so I wouldn't have to hear about it in the US and they really aren't getting better. Over there, they've just extended their isolation to whenever and no one is supposed to be out driving anywhere unless it's essential. Police are enforcing it. Their problem is they didn't start early enough. It was a Trump-like situation of, "Oh this is nothing. We'll just let it run its course." But why is MA so hard hit?

who ever was in charge should be fired. How can they not have the common sense to test people in nursing homes? I saw a story on the news of a women who wanteded to get tested as a worker and they told her to just show up to work anyway and wait to be tested. She did not want to work until she was tested.

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Interesting. Do you have per capita numbers as well? I recall an article about Boston being #1 on Pence's radar this past week but not sure who ran it and I can't seem to find it now.

Pence has radar? I've only heard him blow smoke up Trump's ass. When has he said anything of substance about this or anything else? He was pushed to the side after two press conferences because Trump wanted the spotlight back. To keep it topical, I don't give a damn what those idiots have to say. Baker has handled this far better.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by bohemka

Pence has radar? I've only heard him blow smoke up Trump's ass. When has he said anything of substance about this or anything else? He was pushed to the side after two press conferences because Trump wanted the spotlight back. To keep it topical, I don't give a damn what those idiots have to say. Baker has handled this far better.

Did somebody invite politics into this thread?



I despise Baker as a governor (and individual for that matter), but I will withhold judgement of his handling of this until after the crisis and let him do what he has to do as a leader in the meantime.



Apparently Pence might have been onto something, considering those latest projections.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by justyouraveragetenant

who ever was in charge should be fired. How can they not have the common sense to test people in nursing homes? I saw a story on the news of a women who wanteded to get tested as a worker and they told her to just show up to work anyway and wait to be tested. She did not want to work until she was tested.

Nonsense. You can't test every employee who works at a nursing home daily. They're not even testing front line hospital employees who haven't been known to be exposed. The best you can do in a nursing home is hit them with a thermometer a couple times per shift and make sure they're following infection control procedures.

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Did somebody invite politics into this thread?



I despise Baker as a governor (and individual for that matter), but I will withhold judgement of his handling of this until after the crisis and let him do what he has to do as a leader in the meantime.



Apparently Pence might have been onto something, considering those latest projections.

If Pence ever said anything about Massachusetts, please let me know with a link or quote or anything. I'm not bringing politics into this. I'm bringing leadership into this. Specifically: lack of federal leadership.

Baker was far ahead of the curve of our federal administration.

[justyouraveragetenant]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Nonsense. You can't test every employee who works at a nursing home daily. They're not even testing front line hospital employees who haven't been known to be exposed. The best you can do in a nursing home is hit them with a thermometer a couple times per shift and make sure they're following infection control procedures.

I dont know the whole story but apparently compared to south korea the united states is not testing as much as they could. The success of south korea i heard is their extensive testing. maybee they use different tests or testing procedures. can you force them to stay home and not allow them to go out then? pay them more money.

I get you might not be able to test them everyday but should their activity be more limiteded then the average person?

[brightdoglover]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Nonsense. You can't test every employee who works at a nursing home daily. They're not even testing front line hospital employees who haven't been known to be exposed. The best you can do in a nursing home is hit them with a thermometer a couple times per shift and make sure they're following infection control procedures.

Daily testing is pointless even if it could be done, which it can't. Anyone who is negative is at risk to be infected.

A friend of mine who works in a care facility with geriatric dementia was exposed to a resident being evaluated who was positive. All the residents of that unit and staff were tested. My friend was negative, but told she couldn't return to work until after the weekend because of needing to be cleared through Occupational Health, who didn't work weekends. The positive person was discharged back to her home group residence, supposedly to a private room on infection precautions.

Any of those staff people who test negative go home, usually to other people, maybe ride the bus or train, tend to necessary business and are completely at risk to be infected and go back to work. It's an impossible situation.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by justyouraveragetenant

I dont know the whole story but apparently compared to south korea the united states is not testing as much as they could. The success of south korea i heard is their extensive testing. maybee they use different tests or testing procedures. can you force them to stay home and not allow them to go out then? pay them more money.

I get you might not be able to test them everyday but should their activity be more limiteded then the average person?

WE HAVE NOT HAD ENOUGH TESTS AVAILABLE. Sure we were ill prepared from the beginning, topic for another day.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Nonsense. You can't test every employee who works at a nursing home daily. They're not even testing front line hospital employees who haven't been known to be exposed. The best you can do in a nursing home is hit them with a thermometer a couple times per shift and make sure they're following infection control procedures.

Never mind the fact that healthcare centers are very transparent in their (data driven) belief that false-negatives "are a thing".

[robr2]

Originally Posted by massnative71

With the clusters in Middlesex and Suffolk counties, I wonder how much has to do with the whole Biogen thing? I mean it obviously got a foothold in MA early on, but I wonder how the curve compares to other states that got hit first (WA, NY, LA, MI, CA...). Did ours just get a later start or did those places do a better job containing in the first place? There are different explanations for a later peak, one being flat lining (good) and another being lack of containment (bad). The increase in projected deaths, does not bode well though.

Biogen was a hot spot and those attendees returned to their offices all over the world with most being in the Boston area.