LYNN — Mayor Thomas M. McGee largely attributes the city’s recent surge in coronavirus cases to small gatherings that people are having with family and friends outside of their households.
While the city has increased its contact-tracing efforts and hired community care coordinators to monitor how well businesses and restaurants are adhering to COVID-19 restrictions, McGee said flattening the curve will mostly come down to personal responsibility.
“The community spread is substantially happening within family circles and friend units,” said McGee. “We can only change this if we do it together. These are hard times, but we really have to take responsibility with our family and friends.
“It’s really up to us to take personal responsibility. We can make a difference if we do the right thing and we do it together as a community.”
McGee and Dr. Mitchell S. Rein, of North Shore Medical Center, echoed an increasing number of medical professionals, who say the uptick in social gatherings are partly being driven by a phenomenon that is being referred to as “COVID (or pandemic) fatigue.”
The first virus surge began to wind down at the end of July, Rein said, with a quiet period of decreasing case numbers seen throughout August. But since early September, there’s been a gradual uptick in cases, with the slope starting to accelerate as of late.
“(There’s) COVID fatigue for sure,” said McGee. “You’re in a small bubble. Everyone was staying strictly to that. People are expanding their bubbles a bit to close family and friends.”
The data that is being collected through contact-tracing efforts shows that those types of gatherings are fueling the recent surge in cases, said McGee, noting that new infections started trending toward a much younger age group in August.
“Complacence began to accumulate as the numbers came down over the summer,” said Rein. “(We) started to see increased gatherings.”
Contributing to that COVID fatigue is the major impact that the virus is having on everybody’s mental health, said Rein, referring to the increased anxiety and strain that has resulted from isolation stemming from people staying inside their household bubbles. Months of mask wearing and social distancing has also worn on people, he said.
“Part of the problem is people are not willing to isolate or quarantine and these cases get spread within the family,” said McGee, explaining that the spread can be exacerbated by residents who work in high-risk jobs, such as healthcare providers and supermarket workers, and then return to a home where they live in close proximity to others.
Statewide, Rein said 70 to 80 percent of the new cases are tied to residential homes, and also related to small, medium or large gatherings. While the age group for new cases has been trending downward in the past several months — 85 percent of positives are below the age of 60 and half are below 40 — he said the majority of deaths and hospitalizations are still occurring in an older population.
In Massachusetts, the average age of COVID deaths is 81 and the average age of hospitalizations is 66, Rein said, noting that although high-risk populations are more impacted, the virus doesn’t discriminate. Deaths have been seen among younger people, particularly those who work in the healthcare profession, McGee added.
“We’re obviously concerned about the spread among younger patients and their spread to older people,” said Rein, noting that there is a risk for death in those scenarios.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, both McGee and Rein are urging residents to avoid gathering with others outside of their household for the holiday.
McGee encouraged people to turn to Zoom and other virtual connections for family and friends who don’t live together, but if residents are gathering with people outside of their households, it should be done outside with masks and social distancing.
People should keep dinners short and avoid sharing utensils, Rein said, saying that, “really the greatest gift you can give someone at-risk is to celebrate the holiday remotely.”
“Don’t go out,” said McGee. “Don’t see anybody. You shouldn’t be stepping outside your households and exposing others. One hundred and twenty nine people have died from this virus in Lynn alone. It definitely impacts people within high-risk populations, but it’s not exclusive to that.”
The city’s death toll remained at 129 on Monday, but another 49 new cases were reported to bring the city’s caseload to 7,156. Of that total, 1,162 cases are active and 5,865 people have recovered from the virus, according to city data.
To combat the surge, McGee said Lynn has reactivated Thurgood Marshall Middle School as a contact-tracing site and has hired seven community-care coordinators, who are visiting local businesses to check for compliance for COVID guidelines, such as mask wearing.
But much of the city’s efforts involve adhering to state guidelines, such as the universal mask mandate and overnight curfew that is in place from 10 p.m to 6 a.m., according to McGee.
As a high-risk community, the city is also working with the state to ensure compliance, part of which involves having the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission perform spot checks at businesses and restaurants, McGee said.
McGee noted that surrounding communities, such as Peabody and Revere, are facing similar challenges with rising case numbers and that the city has been working collaboratively with nearby cities and towns to try to flatten the curve.
On Monday, 16 new cases and an additional death were reported in Revere to bring that city’s numbers to 4,097 cases and 112 deaths. Peabody has reported 92 new cases and three additional deaths since last Friday, bringing the totals to 2,037 cases and 201 deaths.
Although case numbers are skyrocketing locally, statewide and across the country, Rein said those numbers are not as high as what was seen during the first wave. For example, the number of hospitalizations is nowhere near what was seen back in the spring, he said.
“We’re asking people to hang tough and be risk free as much as possible as we work toward a vaccine being available,” said McGee, noting that a vaccine is still months away. “It’s incumbent upon us to take personal responsibility and work together to stay safe. We can save lives by doing that.”
“We’re probably looking at roughly four months where we can start to turn the corner and look for much better days ahead of us,” Rein added.
New cases were also reported Monday in Lynnfield, Nahant and Swampscott. Fifteen new cases and an additional death were reported in Lynnfield (264 cases, 15 deaths), four new cases were reported in Nahant (91 cases, six deaths) and nine new cases were reported in Swampscott (253 cases, 11 deaths).
Numbers have not been not updated in Marblehead (359 cases, 30 deaths) or Saugus (1,121 cases, 45 deaths) since last Friday.
