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Updated: March 9, 2020

Worcester County reports first coronavirus case

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Memorial Medical Center's University Campus in Worcester
By Grant Welker

The number of confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases in Massachusetts has soared to 41, the state Department of Public Health said Monday, including the first in Worcester County.

The Worcester County patient, a woman, was brought to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, showing symptoms in the emergency department, according to the Department of Public Health. That patient is now at home resting under quarantine.

Besides that case, the Massachusetts cases include 15 from Middlesex County, 10 each from Norfolk and Suffolk countries, and five in Berkshire county.

The new total includes 15 cases announced Sunday, all connected to a Biogen conference in February in Boston, and 13 more Monday. In all, 32 are tied to the conference. Another four are travel related, and others are being investigated.

As recently as Friday, the state reported only eight cases.

As of March 3 — the total will be updated each Wednesday — Massachusetts had 719 people subject to a quarantine, including 249 still under that restriction.

[Related: Stock of largest Central Mass. public companies down 14%]

The State Public Health Lab’s result is considered presumptive positive and the specimens will now be sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation. 

The risk of Covid-19 to the general public in Massachusetts remains low at this time, the Department of Public Health said.

The CDC's most recent coronavirus report Monday included 423 cases nationwide and 19 deaths. That's up from the latest report Saturday of 164 cases and 11 deaths. The New York Times and other media outlets reported a United States death toll of 26 and a total of more than 600 cases late Monday afternoon.

Photo | SHNS
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders announced Friday that five people who attended a Biogen leadership meeting in Boston are presumed positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus-caused COVID-19 cases in the state to eight.

 

UMass Memorial Medical Center has been ramping up preparations for a potential coronavirus case, establishing a task force to oversee a response to the outbreak in late February.

The task force is aimed at monitoring the outbreak worldwide, staying current with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updates, working closely with the Worcester Department of Public Health and other health officials, and finalizing readiness measures, including distribution of protective equipment.

[Related: Nurses union raises coronavirus staffing concerns]

In the last week through Monday, UMass Memorial has trained more than 2,500 caregivers on personal protective equipment related to the outbreak. 

UMass first alerted staff in late January to look for potential signs of illness in those who had traveled to China or Southeast Asia. That has since been expanded to those who've traveled to Hong Kong, Italy, Iran, Japan and South Korea.

[Related: Coronavirus forces Assumption to suspend Rome operations]

The UMass task force, which includes each of the system's hospital campuses in Worcester, Leominster, Marlborough and Clinton, is co-chaired by Gina Smith, the director of emergency management and preparedness, and Dr. Dick Ellison, the hospital epidemiologist.

UMass also had a patient late last month who was quarantined out of precaution after traveling from China.

The patient was being quarantined first at home upon guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The patient was brought to UMass' University Campus on Friday for an unrelated and undisclosed illness, but did not show any symptoms of coronavirus, the hospital said.

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1 Comments

Anonymous
March 11, 2020
The presumptive patient was brought to UMass Memorial's Main Campus on Belmont Street in Worcester, not the University campus as shown here.
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