The latest numbers for Covid-19 cases in the area. (Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health)
After several weeks of holding steady, Lincoln saw three new cases of Covid-19 in the first week of August, but none of them are at The Commons, where many of the town’s cases appeared earlier in the pandemic.
“Currently, there is a trend of much younger ages testing positive, which I’m seeing in all four towns I cover,” said Tricia McGean, who is the public health nurse responsible for tracking and reporting cases for Lincoln, Concord, Carlisle, and Maynard.
Many of the newer cases are in people in their late teens and early 20s. “Generally, their symptoms are less severe than in older adults, and some are totally asymptomatic but got tested because they were identified as a close contact,” meaning they’d been within 6 feet of a Covid-positive person for for 15 minutes or more, McGean said. “Many of these are traced to graduation parties and social gatherings. My time spent on case management and contract tracing as exponentially increased over the last few weeks.”
Lincoln has not had a death from Covid-19 since late May. All seven deaths in town since the pandemic began were residents of The Commons.
I’ve heard that the percentage of false positives is higher than it should be. Have all of these cases been re-tested enough to know for sure that they actually do/did have Covid-19?
Very helpful analysis. Thanks, Alice.