With slight increases in positive test rates linked, in some cases, to larger social events, Governor Charlie Baker said Thursday that his administration is reviewing the state’s guidance on size collection, but blamed the behavior of People in some of the parts concerned by the groups of infections that have arisen.
A large party in Chatham was linked to a group of new infections, and Nantucket officials are considering reducing restaurant hours due to small increases in their number of infections, as people have gathered on nearby beaches without masks.
“I think that is one of the things that we are talking about,” Baker said at a press conference when asked about the state’s meeting size limits. “But the most important problem is not so much the nature of the size of some of these meetings, especially the private ones that take place in the backyards and places like that. The most important problem is, frankly, the general behavior in those who do not they are distant social, without masks and in some respects a lack of respect for how this virus works and how it moves from person to person. “
The state guide instructs people to limit indoor meetings to 25 people, and a maximum of 100 people outdoors, depending on the size of the venue. The state’s positive test rate is currently 2%, which is still low but has been increasing slightly for the past week or so.
“For all of our residents, I can’t express this enough. Don’t be careless or accommodating,” Baker said.
Baker was at Pfizer’s Andover facility, where the pharmaceutical giant is entering third-phase clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine that is expected to involve up to 30,000 test patients. Pfizer is one of several Massachusetts companies pursuing a vaccine, and officials hope to be able to apply for regulatory approvals for emergency use in October.
The company said it expects to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year, and that it has the capacity to produce 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. Its mRNA vaccine requires two doses per patient.
“Until we have a treatment or a vaccine, and I know you’re working on it, we have to learn how to continue living with this virus,” Baker said.
