WARNINGS ISSUED AS VIRUS SURGES
Baker: New more-contagious strain may already be here
Public health officials on Saturday reported more than 7,000 new coronavirus cases for the third day in a row — just one day after Gov. Charlie Baker said the new, more contagious strain of the virus is “probably” already here.
Another 7,110 coronavirus cases were reported Saturday — down from the record single-day high of 7,635 new cases reported on Friday, and slightly under the 7,136 new cases reported Thursday.
There are now an estimated 88,845 active cases in the commonwealth, according to the Department of Public Health.
Baker said in a press conference Friday that the state is conducting testing along with local labs and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention to determine if the new strain is here.
“The big message I would deliver around the new strain is whether we have actually found it or not, it is probably here,” Baker said. “If you’re talking about a really significantly more contagious strain of COVID, it may start as a relatively rare variant but it will grow quickly.”
Masks “remain your best protection with respect to any strain of COVID, including the new one,” Baker said, as well as continuing social distancing and practicing good hygiene.
In all, there have been 407,933 confirmed coronavirus cases in Massachusetts. Another 304 probable cases were reported Saturday, bringing the combined cumulative case count to 427,135.
Another 109,793 tests were reported Saturday, for a total of more than 11.6 million.
The seven-day average percent positivity is 7.35%.
There are 2,291 patients hospitalized with COVID19, including 445 in intensive care units and 280 who are intubated.
Another 90 fatalities were reported Saturday, bringing the state’s death toll from confirmed cases to 12,798. With probable cases included, the death toll now stands over 13,000.
More than 371,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, part of the 1.9 million who have perished worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. There have been 22 million cases reported in the U.S. and 89 million worldwide.