Coronavirus Surge May Force MA To Return To Full Shutdown: ER Doc

MASSACHUSETTS — A prominent emergency room physician said Massachusetts will likely need to return to a full shutdown of businesses unless the state enacts new restrictions, including a temporary end to indoor restaurant dining.

"We need to ban indoor dining immediately. We need some other restrictions as well for a few weeks," Dr. Jeremy Faust of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School said in a series of Twitter posts Thursday. "If we don’t, our [infection rate] could skyrocket and a full shutdown may become necessary. That would be bad."

Earlier in the pandemic, Faust published weekly updates on the state's excess mortality rate to show the extent of the coronavirus pandemic in Massachusetts. Faust stopped publishing that report when the number of daily new cases fell below 200 and there were several weeks without excess deaths in Massachusetts.

"Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that I need to resume publishing weekly excess mortality reports for Massachusetts," Faust said. "Today, I see signs that our streak ended."

On Monday, Massachusetts allowed communities deemed at lower risk of coronavirus transmission to the next part of the four-phase reopening plan. Known as step two of phase three, communities were allowed to expand indoor restaurant dining.

"We've learned a lot from watching what's going on in other states, especially in the northeast region, and similar changes elsewhere have not led to significant transmission there," Gov. Charlie Baker said when he announced the expansion last week.

Twenty-three communities were designated high-risk in the new town-by-town data released by the state Wednesday, up from 15 the week before.

"I believe our relatively long shelter in place and phased re-opening meant that we could see this coming," Faust said. "The point of reopening when cases are low is to be willing to make behavioral modifications (partial shutdown/restrictions) in MOMENTS LIKE THIS."

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).