COVID-19 pandemic in Boston
The COVID-19 pandemic in Boston was part of an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Massachusetts city of Boston. The first confirmed case was reported on February 1, 2020, and the number of cases began to increase rapidly by March 8. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency on March 10. Mayor Marty Walsh declared a public health emergency on March 15.[3] By March 21, more than a hundred people in Boston had tested positive for COVID-19. Most early cases were traceable to a company meeting held in late February by the biotechnology firm Biogen in Boston.
For effects of the pandemic in the state, see COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts.COVID-19 pandemic in Boston
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
February 1, 2020
(4 years, 2 months, 1 week and 4 days)
In May, Boston was first in Massachusetts for overall number of cases and eighteenth for cases per capita citywide.[4] New cases per day peaked on April 24, 2020, at 659, and began to decline after.[5][6] As of October 14, 2020, Boston has the highest number of cases in Massachusetts and the 38th-highest number of cases per capita.[7]
As of March 8, 2021, there were 59,953 cumulative cases and 1,286 deaths due to COVID-19 in Boston. 11.4% of cases required hospitalization, 2.7% of cases resulted in death, and 84.6% of cases have recovered.[note 1] 9.8% of cases were healthcare workers,[note 1] and 46% of deaths were in long-term care facilities.[8] As of October 12, Boston had completed 308,851 molecular tests, 4.5% of which came back positive in the preceding week. Citywide, 45% of residents had been tested.[8]
Epidemiology[edit]
Spread among population groups[edit]
As of October 15, Boston had 18,446 confirmed cases of COVID-19.[71] As of October 8, a total of 1,756 cases (9.8%) were healthcare workers.[note 1] As of October 8, a cumulative total of 2,037 cases (11.4%) had required hospitalization.[note 1] Deaths in Boston have been concentrated among the elderly. As of October 15, Boston had 769 reported deaths due to SARS-CoV-2.[71] Many deaths from COVID-19 have been at long-term care facilities. As of October 13, a total of 352 COVID-19 related deaths (46%) in Boston were in long-term care facilities.[8] As of April 23, a total of 453 cases (6.5%) were among the homeless.[72]
Societal effects[edit]
Food supplies and supermarkets[edit]
Panic buying, especially since March 11, led to shortages of some products, as well as causing crowds at grocery stores as early in the day as 7:00 a.m.[100] Pandemic supplies like sanitizing supplies and masks remained difficult to get for weeks. Grocery retailers, as required by state law, offered older and more vulnerable people a time in the early morning when they could shop separately.[101] Later, emergency orders required grocery stores to implement stricter measures, including limiting the number of people allowed inside stores at a time, and marking queues to maintain social distancing.[102] They installed plastic guards to reduce contact between customers and cashiers, and designated some aisles one-way. By the end of May, grocery stores started expanding hours, with toilet paper back on shelves, but home baking supplies like yeast and flour in low quantity.
The Greater Boston Food Bank said that it experienced double the normal demand for food, distributing more food per month than it ever had before. It also said that because food donations from restaurants and grocery stores plummeted, it was spending about 50 times as much money to buy food, though the Massachusetts government provided cash assistance, and the federal government provided surplus food purchased from farmers (the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program).[103]