Churches linked to dozens of coronavirus clusters in Massachusetts, but no new restrictions coming

Dec. 1--Churches have been linked to dozens of coronavirus clusters and hundreds of cases in Massachusetts, but Gov. Charlie Baker said no new restrictions or closures are planned, even as thousands are expected to attend services during the upcoming holidays.

"COVID has no intention of taking the holiday off and, in many respects, it's many of those time-honored traditions that create some of the most significant issues with respect to spread," Baker said.

Baker clarified that he is not asking people to skip church but rather asking them to respect the rules around social distancing and mask-wearing and to skip after-church coffee hours.

Massachusetts epidemiologists have identified 36 clusters tied to places of worship since the onset of the pandemic, Baker said.

Those clusters were tied to 316 confirmed cases and 150 close contacts. Forty-eight Massachusetts communities had one or more cases associated with a cluster at a house of worship

In the last month, six clusters have been tied to places of worship, Baker said. One of those clusters led to 200 positive cases.

"That's obviously a big number, but what's more concerning is that those 200 individuals went off into their own daily routines where they were likely exposed to numerous contacts in different settings," Baker said.

Baker pointed to "brighter days ahead" with a vaccine on the horizon.

"The feds told us yesterday on the call that I was on that we should expect to see vaccine distributed sometime in mid-December," Baker said, noting Pfizer's vaccine would likely be the first followed by Moderna's.

Still, the general public likely won't see widespread availability of vaccines until spring, as the initial supply will be distributed to health care workers, the elderly and high-risk individuals. Until then, Baker urged people to "keep their guard up."

"I do believe if we continue to do those things we can fight off this insidious virus and get through the holidays," Baker said.

Baker cautioned people to be wary of misinformation around coronavirus shutdowns and closures. He said no additional restrictions are planned at this time.

"We'll continue to follow closely the public health data and continue to make decisions based on that," he added. "The public will be given clear notice before anything new goes into effect."

"This isn't, hopefully, a forever thing," he added.

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