Cases Continue to be on the Upswing, But City Hopes to See Decrease Next Week

The City’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hasn’t slowed down as public health officials had hoped early last week, growing by 122 cases between Friday, April 17 and Tuesday morning.

The total numbers of cases now sits at 617 as of the morning of April 21, with about 30 to 40 news cases coming in each day from the state Department of Public Health (DPH). That was in contrast to a small decrease over a few days at the beginning of last week that had some thinking the curve in Everett had flattened.

Though the City is still well-behind neighboring Chelsea (939 as of April 20) and Revere (694 as of April 19) in its number of confirmed cases, the numbers are steadily on the incline each day.

However, it is hoped that the curve will flatten by next week, said Public Health Nurse Sabrina Firicano.

“I think as far as our caseload, we’re around the same,” she said. “I think in terms of decreasing the numbers of cases coming in, we’ll look for that next week. We think by next week we’ll see declining numbers here. We’ll keep monitoring it and staying in touch with our patients and hopefully see our numbers come down.”

There are no specific age groups in Everett that have been affected more than others, she said. While many older adults from nursing homes have been adversely affected, Firicano said it wasn’t a situation where those cases outpaced others.

“It’s a mixed age group that we’re still seeing and some are from nursing homes, but we don’t see one particular kind of age group,” she said.

As is consistent with statistics from the Greater Boston area, she did say they are seeing quite a few cases within the Latino community. That has been a sharp point of interest for many in diverse communities as black and Latino residents appear to have a much greater infection rate than other groups. More data is certainly needed to confirm that, she said, but she did report the Latino community in Everett has been affected.

Meanwhile, she did report she and the school nurses continue to work on monitoring their local patients who are COVID-19 positive, using remote check-ins on a regular basis. They are also working closely with public health officials in Chelsea and Revere.

“The Chelsea nurse and Revere nurse are one call away if I or they have an issue,” she said. “We work well together to make sure everyone remains as safe as possible.”

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