NIH: Virus was in Mass. in December ’19
Weeks before first reported cases
The coronavirus was apparently present in Massachusetts in late December 2019 when people were attending Christmas gatherings and New Year’s Eve parties, well ahead of the state Department of Public Health reporting the first official COVID case in February.
That new evidence of early coronavirus infections in Massachusetts — and in four other U.S. states — was revealed on Tuesday by the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers analyzed more than 24,000 stored blood samples across all 50 states between Jan. 2 and March 18, 2020, and they detected antibodies in nine participants’ samples.
The first positive samples came from participants in Illinois and Massachusetts on Jan. 7, 2020, and Jan. 8, 2020, “suggesting that the virus was present in those states in late December,” according to the National Institutes of Health.
It wasn’t until weeks later, on Feb. 1, when the state Department of Public Health announced that a UMass Boston student returning from Wuhan, China, was the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Massachusetts.
Then in late February, Biogen’s conference in Boston triggered a
COVID superspreader that infected an estimated 300,000 people, according to a scientific study that was published 10 months later.
In the NIH study, researchers looked in participant samples for a type of antibodies called IgG. These antibodies do not appear until about two weeks after a person has been infected, indicating that participants with these antibodies were exposed to the virus at least several weeks before their sample was taken.
“Antibody testing of blood samples helps us better understand the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S. in the early days of the U.S. epidemic, when testing was restricted and public health officials could not see that the virus had already spread outside of recognized initial points of entry,” said Keri Althoff, lead author of the NIH study and associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
In addition to Massachusetts and Illinois, positive samples came as early as January from participants in Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The participants were from outside the major urban hot spots of Seattle and New York City, believed to be key points of entry of the virus in the U.S.
“This study allows us to uncover more information about the beginning of the U.S. epidemic and highlights the real-world value of longitudinal research in understanding dynamics of emerging diseases like COVID-19,” said Josh Denny, an author of the study.
The authors do not know whether the participants with positive samples became infected during travel or while in their own communities.
Fully vaccinated Massachusetts residents will soon have a shot at winning a $1 million cash prize or a $300,000 college scholarship through a “VaxMillions” giveaway.
“The vaccine is free, and it now could be your ticket to winning $1 million,” Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday.
Fully vaccinated residents who are 18 and older can enter the giveaway to win one of five $1 million cash prizes, and residents ages 1217 can enter to win one of five $300,000 college scholarships in the form of a 529 college savings plan.
Residents can enter online starting July 1 and weekly drawings will continue through August 27, Baker said. People must be fully vaccinated to enter.
“If you’re not vaccinated, you can’t play,” Baker said.
By submitting an entry, participants agree to allow the Department of Public Health to access vaccination records to verify full vaccination and participants may also be asked to provide a vaccination card.
Participants can enter regardless of when they became fully vaccinated. As with the regular lottery, winners’ names will be publicly disclosed.
More details on the dates and times of the drawings will become available around July 1, according to Baker.
“If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines and thinking about getting vaccinated, but for whatever reason haven’t, here’s another reason for you to come forward. Protect yourself, your friends, you coworkers and our neighbors,” Baker said.
Massachusetts’ vaccine rollout has gone exceedingly well, with more than 80% of adults now having at least one dose, but Baker said it isn’t time to let up on the campaign.
“From our point of view, we shouldn’t stop,” he said. “We should just do everything we possibly can.”
Ohio and California have launched similar vaccine lottery initiatives, and Baker said he spoke with both governors on the success of such efforts.
Baker said he learned the lotteries created much more vaccine visibility, and vaccination rates increased, especially among young people.
“They also saw a lot of parents who are interested in the scholarship program, who use this as a mechanism to encourage their kids who may have not wanted to get vaccinated to get vaccinated,” Baker said.
Kids and teens who win the scholarship can use the funds to cover tuition, room and board and related expenses.
The state will pay for the lottery program with the billions in federal aid it received in the American Rescue Plan Act, Baker said.
The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission will convene a special meeting on
Thursday to vote on providing support for the giveaway.
As coronavirus rates improve significantly across the state, Baker also announced Tuesday he is stepping down the COVID-19 Command Center and the last formal meeting of the coronavirus medical advisory board happened last week.
As of Tuesday, more than four million Bay State residents were full vaccinated, and the coronavirus state of emergency officially lifted.