December 3, 2020
New coronavirus cases this week shatter records in Worcester, statewide
Photo | Grant Welker
Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, left, and other area hospitals will get a lift from a field hospital being set up at the DCU Center.
By Grant Welker
After a short plateau of new coronavirus cases around Thanksgiving, cases have spiked to their highest levels yet in Worcester and across Massachusetts.
The city of Worcester reported on Thursday 1,012 new cases in the past eight days, a day longer than the typical seven-day reporting period because of Thanksgiving. Nonetheless, the new data shows the city is in the midst of its highest new counts so far.
The previous weekly high was 667 in late November. The city had 278 new cases on Wednesday alone.
Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus called the new case numbers mind boggling.
"That is just a staggering number," Augustus said.
An even larger surge in cases from Thanksgiving gatherings is expected in the coming few weeks, he added.
Worcester now has 10,127 total cases since the pandemic began. About one-third of those cases have been reported since mid-October alone.
Worcester County had 660 new cases reported on Wednesday alone, far higher than any total during the spring surge, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In the spring, the highest daily total reported was 429 on April 24. For comparison, Worcester County didn't come close to 660 cases across an entire week from mid-June to late October, when cases began rising again.
The county's weekly total from this past week was 2,195, a slight dip from last week because it covers only six days. The state didn't release its detailed weekly Thursday report because of Thanksgiving.
Massachusetts set new daily case records three times in the past week: first on the day after Thanksgiving, when 4,464 cases were recorded, a number skewed a bit because cases weren't reported on Thanksgiving. But that number was beat nonetheless on Wednesday, when 4,613 new cases were reported, and on Thursday, when 6,477 were posted, including 680 the state said were from before Dec. 1.
The 18,503 new cases in the past week statewide are a new record. Massachusetts now has 225,787 total cases since the pandemic began.
Deaths aren't rising as fast but are trending upward. Worcester County has had 34 new deaths since Friday, bringing the total to 1,295. Across Massachusetts, deaths in that time rose by 239 to reach 10,874.
Hospitalizations are on the rise locally, statewide and nationally, with a field hospital at Worcester's DCU Center slated to begin taking patients early next week.
UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester had 83 patients with the virus Thursday, and sibling hospital HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital has 23. UMass Memorial's own employees have been increasingly affected, too, with 534 testing positive since the pandemic began, including 53 in the past week alone as of Tuesday. The system has 123 employees who remain unable to work, according to UMass Memorial data earlier this week.
"While this increase is very concerning, I'm confident that we can navigate this surge because of the lessons we learned in the spring and because of your relentless dedication and commitment," UMass Memorial President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said in a staff memo Thursday.
The system's virus testing has reached capacity because of a post-Thanksgiving surge in people seeking testing, Dickson added.
Statewide, 1,324 patients were hospitalized as of Thursday, according to DPH. That's far higher than the few hundred typically hospitalized over the summer lull in cases, yet well below the roughly 4,000 hospitalized in the spring peak.
Nationally, hospitalizations are at their highest levels yet, surpassing 100,000 for the first time on Wednesday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The spring peak topped out at just under 60,000 hospitalizations.
Gov. Charlie Baker, who toured the DCU Center on Thursday, announced a second field hospital will be set up in Lowell. Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association President and CEO Steve Walsh praised the decision in a statement.
“Hospitals across the commonwealth are again being stretched by an increase in COVID-19 admissions. They are highly prepared for this resurgence and every facility has a plan to swiftly shift capacity as demand increases," he said. "The availability of field hospitals, such as the ones overseen by UMass Memorial Health Care and Lowell General Hospital, further ensures that acute care beds can always be available to the sickest patients.
"Even with this readiness in place, our providers still need the help of every Massachusetts resident in order to avoid being overwhelmed. It’s no exaggeration to say that mask wearing and social distancing have a direct effect on the strength of our healthcare system," Walsh said.
Nationally, cases have surpassed 14 million and deaths more than 275,000, according to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Worldwide, cases were approaching 65 million Thursday afternoon, with more than 1.5 million deaths.
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