The state reported eight confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Harvard for the week ending Dec. 10, the highest number of cases reported for a one-week period since the pandemic began. In addition, over the 14 days since Thanksgiving, Harvard’s case count of 16 moved the town from the lowest risk category to the moderate risk category. Harvard had been in the lowest risk category since the state began reporting numbers last spring.
For towns as small as Harvard, the state’s risk categories are defined by the number of cases a town has had over the prior 14 days. Lowest is less than or equal to 10; low is between 11 and 15; moderate is between 16 and 25; and high is over 25. The color used to represent moderate is yellow; high is represented by red.
The new cases bring the town’s total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began to 52. Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the Press that the cases are spread across town, not clustered in one area.
Statewide, the number of COVID-19 cases and subsequent hospitalizations has also increased dramatically since Thanksgiving. In a Dec. 15 press conference, Gov. Charlie Baker said the average number of cases per day over a seven-day period was 2,444 on Dec. 1. By Dec. 9, that number had nearly doubled. He added that in the three weeks since Thanksgiving, COVID-19 hospitalizations are up 93%; the number of patients in the intensive care unit is up 73%; the number of patients intubated is up 104%; and deaths due to the virus are up 84%.
Baker attributes these increases to gatherings held in private homes over the Thanksgiving holiday. He said: “When folks are at home with family or friends, they do tend to let their guard down, and that’s when the virus thrives. Over Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, it clearly did.” He added that the state’s health care systems cannot afford a repeat of this scenario in December and said it is “critically important for all of us to do the things we need to do.”
The Department of Public Health has released guidelines for safely celebrating the holidays in December, and they are simply that in-person celebrations should be limited to household members only, and travel plans should be postponed or canceled. There are also guidelines for higher-risk celebrations with nonhousehold members, including mask-wearing, opening windows, and distancing if possible. But Baker admonished people who are planning to take part in higher-risk celebrations, saying they should do so with the recognition that “we just saw this movie.”
The Harvard Board of Health COVID-19 page on the town website has a multitude of links to help residents navigate the confusing waters of the pandemic, including symptom checklists, safety precautions, and guidelines on isolation and quarantine (see sidebar below). It will also have more detailed vaccination information in mid-January (see vaccination timeline at right). More information on holiday guidelines and suggestions for celebration alternatives are available at mass.gov/news/december-
holiday-guidance.
The board also wants residents to know that the Department of Public Health has received complaints about scammers pretending to be contact tracers. Contact tracers will not ask for health insurance information or Social Security numbers. Suspected scam calls should be reported to the Board of Health or the Harvard Police.
Isolation vs. quarantine: What you need to know
Isolation and quarantine are important tools to help stop the spread of COVID-19. These are the latest isolation and quarantine guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
- You must isolate if you are symptomatic or have tested positive for COVID-19.
- You must quarantine if you are not sick but are a close contact to someone diagnosed with COVID-19 or if you’ve been traveling outside Massachusetts and do not have an exemption or have not obtained a negative test result in the 72 hours prior to returning.
Take these steps when either isolating or quarantining:
- Do not leave your home except for urgent medical care. Wear a mask if you must leave and do not take public transportation, ride-shares, or taxis.
- Do not have visitors in your home.
- Use a separate bedroom and bathroom if possible.
- Do not share eating or drinking utensils, or food, with anybody.
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Take these additional steps when quarantining:
- Do your best to stay at least 6 feet away from other people in the house.
- Monitor your health. Take your temperature twice daily.
- If you develop a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other signs of respiratory illness, call your health care provider and schedule a COVID-19 test. Be sure to tell them you have been exposed to COVID-19.
Take these additional steps when isolating:
- Avoid other people in your home. If you must be in the same room with others, limit time to five minutes or less, stay 6 feet apart, and wear masks.
- Avoid touching your face. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing.
- Clean surfaces that you touch every day with a household disinfectant.
- Put gloves, tissues, masks, and other trash in a bag, tie it, and put it out with other household trash.
- Drink a lot of water, avoid caffeine and alcohol, and get rest.
- Call 911 for emergency medical care if you have trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion, inability to wake or stay awake, bluish lips or face. Let dispatch know you have COVID-19.
Ending quarantine
- If you haven’t had symptoms, you can:
– resume normal activities after 10 days of quarantine, or,
– get tested on day five of your quarantine or later, and if negative, resume normal activities after seven days of quarantine. - If you end quarantine before 14 days, you must continue to take your temperature each day. If you develop a fever or other symptoms, resume quarantine until the full 14 days are up.
Ending isolation
- A public health authority will confirm that you may leave your home once the risk of infecting others is determined to be low, usually in about 10 days.
Source: mass.gov/isol8
COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution Timeline
Phase 1: December – February (in order of priority)
- Clinical and nonclinical health care workers doing direct and COVID-facing care
- Long-term care facilities, rest homes, and assisted living facilites
- Police, fire, and emergency medical personnel
- Congregate care settings (including corrections and shelters)
- Home-based health care workers
- Health care workers doing non-COVID-facing care
Phase 2: February – April (in order of priority)
- Individuals with 2+ comorbidities (high risk for COVID-19 complications)
- Early education, K-12, transit, grocery, utility, food and agriculture, sanitation, public works and public health workers
- Adults 65+
- Individuals with one comorbidity
Phase 3: April – June
- Vaccine will be available to general public.
