Sad but unsurprising announcement from the Star Island Corporation

The 2020 Star Island conference season is cancelled, courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I just received the following email from Joe Watts (the SIC CEO) and the Board:
( Read more... )

I cannot say I'm surprised. While there's plenty of nice empty rock on Star for a few hundred conferees to spread out, the same cannot be said of the ferry, the conference halls, or the dining room. And evacuating people off the island once they fall ill is a challenge at the best of times, which this year will not be.

This doesn't make me any less sad or disappointed. Just because this is clearly the right decision doesn't mean I have to like it. And, frankly, this sucks.

But I will be back. Next year, or the year after, or the year after that.

Local COVID-19 updates

As of 4PM this afternoon, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 104 more deaths from COVID-19 (for a total of 3,003 to date), 1,524 new cases (for a total of 56,462) and 8,787 more tests performed (for a total of 244,887).

I'd thought those testing numbers were good, and they may well be compared to other states; however, an analysis by the folks at STAT and the Harvard Global Health Institute indicates that Massachusetts (and most of the other states in the nation) need a whole lot more in the way of testing before they can safely consider opening things up again:( Read more... )

Thirty to thirty-five thousand tests per day needed? Yikes. No wonder Governor Baker is in no hurry to reopen bricks-and-mortar business locations.

The town of Acton has not posted an update so far today; yesterday's update reported a total of 66 confirmed cases (up from 65 the day before).