Southborough had a mini-spike in confirmed cases of Covid-19 confirmed last week. Six new cases were reported, and four of them were aged 19 or younger.
This is the biggest jump in numbers Southborough has seen since the spring.
On Wednesday, September 23rd, the Town reported the first new confirmed case in three weeks. Two days later, the number was increased by five more. At that time, the data posted on the Town’s website was inaccurate and incomplete. (Figures tallied to 48 cases rather than 50 as they should have.)
Today, the Town corrected the figures. It reveals that for the first time, a number of young people were confirmed infected in Southborough. Above right is a chart showing the updated breakdown in ages. Below is another indicating the changes in demographics since this spring.
Earlier this summer, the state began sharing a map that designated towns as red, yellow, or green based on the number of newly confirmed cases in the past 14 days. Southborough has been consistently grayed out – having fewer than five cases. Recently, Northborough moved into the “yellow” zone. The Town’s 11 reported cases within 2 weeks puts them in the “4-8 Cases per day per 100k” category. Northborough doesn’t post age data.
Below is an updated look at the trends of Southborough’s active and cumulative cases over time:
Updated (9/30/20 10:27 am): Two new cases were already reported this week. For updated stats, see the Town’s page. For my updated graphs, check my Covid-19 page.
Updated (9/30/20 2:47 pm): I had written that the new cases put us in the “yellow” category under state guidance. But I misread and incorrectly analyzed the data. The data is based on a 14 day look at the case per day average, based on numbers per 100,000 residents. Because our Town has less than 10,000 residents (as of the last censu), the six cases pushed us just over the threshold of yellow. Additional cases since then pushed us further into the zone.
For the latest cases of infection for people 19 years of ager and under, how many are returning students? Are there any of these new cases multiple in a single household? Having observed the behavior of young people over the last few months, it would appear they consider themselves immune to infection with significant instances of close contact and no precautions taken.
On the other hand, I have seen lots of discarded “disposable” masks littering the streets. It is unfortunate “disposable” has been interpreted as “tossable”.
Please people, take your medical waste home with you and dispose of it properly!
Due to privacy issues, we can’t know the details on who the patients are and how they were infected.
I have seen quite a few younger people wearing masks, but also some without. Some of those, I hoped, were in family groups.
I’m sure contact tracing is being done. It is concerning though.