BREAKING: Massachusetts has just announced 51 *new* cases of coronavirus.

[MelissaB]

BREAKING: Massachusetts has just announced 51 *new* cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of presumptive cases to 92 -- a 124 percent increase from yesterday. Seventy of the cases are related to the Biogen conference in Boston. Six people are hospitalized.

Link to tweet

[MissB]

1. Jesus

Harvard made the right call.

[MelissaB]

3. Yes, they did!

[bdamomma]

5. but what happens to those

students from other countries where can they stay? are they closing dorms?

[MissB]

9. I think most universities are keeping dorms open

Along with food service, at least for now.

On edit: that’s a huge topic on all the college boards for parents.

[fromVT]

11. Harvard is closing dorms at the end of the week

Everyone is moving out at the start of spring break. All classes will be held online for the remainder of the term.

See https://www.harvard.edu/

[MelissaB]

2. State of Emergency declared as well.

BREAKING: Governor Baker declares a state of emergency in Massachusetts for coronavirus.

Link to tweet

[Dennis Donovan]

4. That means they're testing!

It's sorta good news, in a way.

[GopherGal]

19. After the first few cases associated with the Biogen meeting, they made a concreted effort to test

... all attendees. None of this broke until late last week, so probably they're just now getting the test results back.
Mass General apparently set up a tent in an ambulance bay to handle the testing.

https://boston.cbslocal.com/video/4474399-wbz-news-update-for-march-6/

But it's mighty concerning. If 175 people attended that meeting and there are now 70 cases "related to it" worst case is 40% of the people at that meeting caught the virus. (More likely some fraction less, because the denominator is bigger than 175 people exposed - e.g. hotel workers, food service workers, family members, etc.) Still says some scary things about how many more cases of transmission are out there if you go looking for them.

[Wounded Bear]

6. There are probably thousands of folks carrying the virus around by now...

just from basic math coupled with the number of people who move around in the country every day.

Every densely populated state is under the gun.

As testing increases, more jumps in the number of reported cases will happen.

[getagrip_already]

7. Well isn't that special.....

I guess we will be out of toilet paper by the weekend.....

Sigh

[Leghorn21]

8. Breathtaking...and this is just the start

If nothing else, may the fact that cases doubled here overnight prompt some people to accept our current reality

[superpatriotman]

10. More...

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/03/09/biogens-boston-conference-continues-to-be-leading-source-of-coronavirus-cases/

About 175 Biogen managers coming from all over the world — “Yes, from Italy,” a company spokesman confirmed — gathered for a major meeting of the biotech giant held at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel Feb. 26-27. Italy, at that time, was beginning to see the virus spread.

Biogen has instructed employees and contractors in Massachusetts, North Carolina and Switzerland to work from home “until further notice.”

[Baitball Blogger]

18. Tragic irony:

"The COVID-19 worldwide spread, ironically, was one of the hot topics at the conference.

A Cowen & Co. human resources director told the Herald Monday she was aware of the coronavirus risk and a spokesman later said all 300-plus people who attended what was billed as the “event of the year when it comes to healthcare conferences” were notified after the fact about the Biogen link."

[Croney]

12. I'm not surprised. My daughter works for a firm that had several people at that meeting.

Not from her department. She said they waited days to tell employees about the situation. Now they've told everybody to work from home. Imagine all the people out buying groceries and going to movies and restaurants, without knowing they'd been exposed.

[Dem2]

13. School was closed yesterday

Because a mom at the conference infected her child who goes to my daughter's (she's a teacher) school.

Trying times as she was visiting my 85 year old mom prior to learning about the issue.

[Croney]

14. My daughter kept her three kids home yesterday,

but as you know, all schools in town were open today and they all went. Good luck to your daughter and everybody else.

[Dem2]

15. It's so GD stressful

Add that my cousin is also living with my mom and she's having cancer treatment, but feels obligated to make her min hours to keep her insurance. I may threaten Star Market with a law suit - see if they can use their brains for just a minute.

[Captain Zero]

16. First Two of Indianapolis' known cases returned from Boston 2 weeks ago, 1 definite from BioGen

Eli Lilly in Indianapolis has CLOSED DOWN THIS WEEK. Only working from home.
So my hunch is both of those first two cases work for Eli Lilly. They came back from BioGen.

Indianapolis is up two 7-8 confirmed cases now, some in a west side school system.
A grade school there has been shuttered for three weeks. Online classes only.
One of the original cases, the one definitely from BioGen lives on the westside.
Probably his kids took it to that school.

Looking possible.

[Tarheel_Dem]

17. Gov. Cooper (NC) came on the air at noon and announced 5 new cases in the state. We've held at 2

for a couple of weeks, and they all appear to be in the Triangle area (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill), but it's bound to spread. I'm glad we've already voted in NC, and but I'm concerned about the elections going forward. It would be great if everyone was allowed to vote absentee.

[Ms. Toad]

20. Just remember - disproportionate increases this week (and perhaps next)

are likely largely due to the new availablility of tests.