Local COVID-19 updates

As of 4PM today, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 38 confirmed COVID-19 deaths (for a total of 7,255 confirmed deaths), 200 newly reported confirmed cases (for a total of 99,955) and 4,660 new patients tested by molecular tests (for a total of 658,058). The ratio of newly confirmed cases to molecular test results is 5.6%. The state reported 17 probable deaths (for a total of 153), 63 newly reported probable cases (for a total of 3,934), and 740 patients tested by antibody tests (for a total of 52,144). In total, the state reported 55 new deaths (for a total of 7,408) and 263 new cases (for a total of 103,889).

Confirmed deaths held constant today, and the number of molecular tests rose slightly; but the percentage of tests coming back positive rose noticeably, while the number of tests was down substantially.

Confusion out of the World Health Organization yesterday and today regarding how people not showing COVID-19 symptoms may or may not be infectious:

GENEVA — A top World Health Organization expert has tried to clear up "misunderstandings" about comments she made that were widely understood to suggest that people without COVID-19 symptoms rarely transmit the coronavirus.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the UN health agency's technical lead on the virus pandemic, insisted Tuesday that she was referring only to a few studies, not a complete picture, in the comments she made Monday.

Van Kerkhove's remarks on Monday raised confusion and questions among outside experts and health officials who have recommended — and in some places, required — that people wear masks to try to prevent the virus from spreading.

The "clarification" she provided during a WHO social media chat showed many questions remain about whether infected people who don’t show symptoms of illness such as fever, dry cough, or difficulty breathing can transmit the virus to others.

Van Kerkhove said: "What I was referring to yesterday were very few studies, some two or three studies that have been published, that actually try to follow asymptomatic cases."

"That’s a very small subset of studies," she continued. "I used the phrase 'very rare,' and I think that that's (a) misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare. What I was referring to was a subset of studies.

Governor Baker clearly isn't buying it:

Asked about the WHO’s claim on Monday, the governor paused for several seconds as he carefully chose he words, eventually telling reporters he earlier had a call with health care officials, "all of whom basically said they were enormously skeptical of that conclusion for a whole bunch of reasons. And so am I."

"I continue to believe that ... people who are asymptomatic, who become symptomatic, are absolutely capable of spreading the infection, and so are many of the asymptomatic people who never show symptoms at all," Baker said, pointing to limited antibody testing performed in Massachusetts and "serious" studies that found huge swaths of infections were spread by people who didn’t show symptoms.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the UN health agency’s technical lead on the virus pandemic, had said Monday that asymptomatic transmissions were "very rare," citing what she described as reports on contact tracing conducted in several countries. Kerkhove said Tuesday that she was referring only to a few studies, not a complete picture.

Baker’s own public advice has shifted at times since the pandemic began, a nod to what the called the virus’s unprecedented nature and developing research by health officials.

"But I am enormously skeptical of such a broad generalization about something where there is so much data and information already available that says just the opposite," he said Tuesday.

That the WHO quickly walked back the comments speaks to the uncertainty still surrounding the virus months after it began proliferating worldwide. Baker and other officials in the United States and around the world have sought to balance how to ease social restrictions on a struggling economy while guarding against a potential second wave of infections — meaning advice from leading world health experts could affect how billions live their daily lives.

Nothing new from the town of Action tonight; yesterday's report was of 171 cumulative cases with 30 individuals in isolation, 120 persons recovered and 21 fatalities.