Prominent doctor calls on Governor Baker to do more in COVID-19 fight

As the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has been reporting an increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, a prominent doctor is calling on more to be done to fight the pandemic in Massachusetts.

Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, is calling on Baker to institute more restrictions.

“For many months, I defended (Governor Charlie Baker) against critics, saying our governor has done a good job. Over the past 6 weeks, I’ve gone from uncomfortable to aghast at lack of action. Its incomprehensible. They must see different data because no rational explanation for lack of action.

Jha went on to point out where Massachusetts stands across the country and what data is showing.

“Massachusetts has more new COVID cases per capita than Georgia, Florida, or Texas. Our wastewater data shows more infections in the community than we had in April.”

“Our hospitalizations, deaths are up 100% in the last 3 weeks, but our casinos and tanning salons are still open.”

Jha also stated that Massachusetts mayors want more action.

“Mayors across the Commonwealth are asking the Governor to do more. My view? We don’t need lockdowns, but we need to do a lot more. Response from (Governor Baker’s) team? No plans to do anything further at this time.”

Baker stated on WCVB On The Record Sunday that the state is in a much different place than it was earlier in the year and the age of those getting infected has changed to a younger demographic.

“The experience in the fall is different than we had in the spring. We had a thousand people in the ICU back in the spring, and we now have about 260 people there now. We’re paying day to day attention on those numbers, and we talk to the hospital community on a nonstop basis about it, but there is no question that the community that’s getting infected is different this time than the community that got infected in the spring.”

Baker stated that the virus is still deadly and residents still need to take proper precautions and that transmission in schools continue to remain low.