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Boston's Morning Newsletter
What to know about rising RSV rates in Mass.
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
TGIF! We have an incredibly — perhaps unsettlingly — warm weekend ahead. And don’t forget: Daylight Savings also ends, meaning we gain an extra hour Sunday. (Get ready: that first 4:30 p.m. sunset on Sunday is gonna feel weird when it’s also 70 degrees outside.)
A quick alert to commuters: a serious crash closed down all lanes on I-93 southbound in Medford earlier this morning, and police are warning delays will stretch into the morning commute.
Worcester wants you to mask up again indoors. Boston Children’s Hospital is cutting back on some elective procedures. Connecticut Children’s Hospital has reached out to the National Guard for help. And the reason isn’t (primarily) COVID. Rather, officials say they’re scrambling to respond to an uncharacteristic surge in RSV, a common respiratory illness that’s filling up pediatric hospital beds nationwide.
- What is RSV? It’s not a new disease. In fact, as one doctor told Here & Now, most of us get it by the age of 2. The symptoms look like a cold and most people recover unscathed in a week or two. But it can be serious for infants, adults over 65 and others with weakened immune systems. While elderly adults are the most at risk of dying from RSV, it’s also the leading cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia for those under the age of 1, according to the CDC.
- Why is it surging? Last year saw a similarly early spike in RSV cases, as most but not all COVID precautions were dropped. As children return to schools and daycares this fall after two years of mostly masked or remote schooling, health experts say a lot of them — especially the youngest cohort — are getting exposed to the virus for the first time. According to the CDC, the RSV rate in Massachusetts has more than quadrupled since early September.
- How does COVID factor in? Local COVID rates have remained stable, if choppy, since the summer. But health officials in Boston said Thursday that they do expect them to rise this winter. That’s leading to concerns of a looming “triple-demic” — COVID, flu and RSV — straining an already understaffed local health care system.
- What you should do: There’s no vaccine for RSV (though there could be next year). There are treatment options for high-risk infants, but the advice for most is just to wash our hands and practice good hygiene. Local health officials are also encouraging people to get their COVID boosters and flu shots, if they haven’t yet, to keep the pressure off hospitals.
PSA: We just updated our COVID data page to focus on the most relevant data as we enter our third pandemic winter. That means more focus on things like wastewater data and booster rates. WBUR digital editor Berto Scalese explains our thinking in this Twitter thread.
The big end-of-year $3.7 billion economic development bill is now on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk, after both the House and Senate passed the legislation without any objections during an informal session yesterday. Baker has 10 days to decide on the bill, which includes extra money for heating assistance programs, the T and much more.
- You know by now that permanent tax cuts are getting put off until next year (to Baker’s disappointment). What else didn’t make the cut? State House News Service reports that lawmakers also dumped a proposal to give local cities and towns the option to bring back happy hour (which Baker opposed), a school safety initiative (proposed by the governor) and the state lottery’s push to allow online lottery sales (Baker supports, but retail stores not so much).
Around the corner: The city of Cambridge is planning to discuss a new ordinance on Monday that would ban “right on reds” at intersections across the city. The goal: to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Zoom out: Cambridge would be one of a few cities across the country to broadly ban right turns at all red lights (yes, even when there’s no sign). Washington, D.C. and New York City have similar citywide rules. Ann Arbor, Michigan also ban banned right turns on red lights in its downtown areas last month.
P.S.— Are you still making up your mind on how you’re going to vote? Then take our special edition of our Boston News Quiz to review the ballot questions, the top statewide candidates and more. And remember: today’s the last day of early in-person voting before the Tuesday election.
