Covid-19 cases in Lincoln see rapid increase

Lincoln’s Covid-19 caseload has shot up recently, with 14 new cases in December thus far.

Thirteen of those cases are at The Commons in Lincoln, Public Health Nurse Tricia McGean told the Board of Selectmen on December 14. One resident there died of Covid-19 on December 13 — the pandemic’s first death in Lincoln since late May.

As of last night’s meeting, the town had recorded a total of 82 cases. Seven more cases have occurred at The Commons but were not counted toward Lincoln’s total because they were temporary rehabilitation patients transferred from facilities or homes in other towns, McGean said. The skilled nursing neighborhood has isolated Covid-19-positive residents in seven of the area’s 32 rooms rooms with a staff dedicated solely to their care, and staff in that portion of The Commons are tested every three days.

At the Lincoln School, which has been doing both five-day-a-week in-person and fully remote instruction, there are four classrooms now in quarantine (two in first grade and one each in second and fourth grade). Everyone in those classes must stay home for 14 days.

“It’s a really important time to stay in your bubble and stay in your household,” including avoiding extended family members who don’t live with you, McGean said. “It’s spreading like wildfire, especially through families, where one parent gets it, then the other, and then all the kids.” Fortunately, most of the Lincolnites who have gotten ill have experienced mild to moderate symptoms, especially aches and severe headaches, she added.

Although vaccines are starting to be distributed to health-care workers and other top-priority segments of the population, the general public won’t have access here until April or May, McGean said. The primary means of vaccine distribution will be through primary care providers and pharmacies. Officials are starting to plan how to vaccinate residents who are unable to get to either of those places.

“We’d love to be in a position to tell residents that [the town] can vaccinate 6,000 people but clearly that’s beyond our capacity,” she said.