BOSTON (WHDH) - There are now 102 presumptive and six confirmed coronavirus cases in Massachusetts, health officials announced Thursday.
The cases include 60 men and 48 women. Ten of the patients have been hospitalized, 89 were not hospitalized, and nine are under investigation.
Nine are from Berkshire County, two in Essex County, 49 in Middlesex County, 24 in Norfolk County, 22 in Suffolk County, one in Worcester county and one listed as unknown, according to the Department of Public Health.
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Of the 108 cases, 82 have been traced to the Biogen conference at the Marriot Long Wharf in Boston.
The cases in Berkshire County are all individuals who have not traveled or who have not come into contact with a coronavirus patient.
Gov. Charlie Baker met with Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer on Thursday to discuss “community transmission” of the coronavirus and the need for more testing facilities in the Bay State.
Baker said that the state now has enough capacity to test an additional 5,000 people beyond the previous capacity to test several thousand.
At this time, the State Public Health Laboratory in Jamaica Plain is the lone facility that has the capacity to test for the coronavirus.
Hospitals are able to take a swab from individuals who may be infected but those samples then have to be sent to the lab for additional examination.
Baker said one of his top priorities is helping additional medical institutions get what they need to test for coronavirus.
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“We need the federal government, the CDC, and the FDA to give hospitals and testing facilities here in Massachusetts that have the capacity to test the material and then the approval that they need to actually begin to test themselves.”
Baker also floated the idea of implementing traveling nurses in the event hospitals get inundated with coronavirus patients.
For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
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