As the town trudged into its fifth week of the COVID-19 state of emergency, there were few signs of positive change coming anytime soon. An April 18 snow reminded us that even Mother Nature can be slow to move on. For the most part, residents stayed out of public places as requested by both state and local officials, but statewide, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to rise.
The biggest story of the week came on April 21 when Gov. Charlie Baker announced that public schools would remain closed for the remainder of the school year. School Superintendent Linda Dwight subsequently sent this statement to the Press:
“We appreciate the governor’s decision to keep school buildings closed for the remainder of the year as a safety measure for our students and staff. This is a difficult, though anticipated development. We will continue our remote learning plan and stay connected to our students and families. We will collaborate with students to plan the end of year celebrations that are so treasured by our seniors and the entire Harvard community. And, we will plan for the joyful day when we will safely return to the school buildings.”
Statewide, in the week between April 14 and April 21, the number of confirmed cases grew from 28,163 to 41,199. Deaths from the disease more than doubled, from 957 to 1,961. But hospitalizations of confirmed cases at local hospitals slowed. Lowell General reported just 13 new cases hospitalized, compared to 43 new cases the week before. And at Emerson Hospital, COVID-19 patients dropped from 36 to 29; the previous week the number had increased by 19.
Last week, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) finally released the cumulative numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each town, and it plans to provide public updates of those numbers weekly. In Harvard (which includes Devens), the number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began was 11 on April 15, but it climbed to 13 on April 22. The Harvard Board of Health had refused to release the number of cases in Harvard on what it considered to be the advice of MDPH for small towns. When the board met on April 21, member Sharon McCarthy expressed frustration that the state had left the decision to report local case numbers up to local boards of health, and said it should have made the decision itself from the beginning.
Contact tracing a work in progress
McCarthy also expressed frustration that the board has not been kept informed of the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health (NABH) protocols and plans for contact tracing. The state’s much-touted Community Tracing Collaborative does not yet have enough trained volunteers to cover every town in the state. Currently, NABH is still doing contact tracing for confirmed COVID-19 cases in the 17 towns it covers, including Harvard. Sanitarian Ira Grossman, an NABH employee, told the Press the organization has two nurses dedicated to COVID-19 patients, and they are “quite busy” communicating with those patients and doing contact tracing.
The Press spoke to one resident who was one of the 13 confirmed cases in Harvard but has since recovered and is now out of isolation. He said he was very satisfied with the communications he had with NABH, which mainly consisted of an initial phone call from an NABH nurse shortly after he tested positive for COVID-19. The nurse inquired about the health of each member of his household, asked about his movements since the onset of symptoms, asked if he needed help to get groceries or prescriptions, and gave him a phone number to call if he had any questions or issues. His only other contact with NABH was to get officially released from home isolation when he met the documented criteria given him by his physician’s office and the state test site.
McCarthy worried that, if the state begins relaxing the stay-at-home advisory, cases may increase, and contact tracing will require more resources than NABH has. She said she wants to know what protocol NABH is using, particularly when contacts outside of its coverage area are identified, and also when NABH will be switching to the state’s program. Chair Tom Philippou said he would speak to NABH Director of Public Health Jim Garreffi and report any information he receives to the board at its next meeting, scheduled for April 28.
