The daily average number of new coronavirus cases in Massachusetts has been steadily rising over the past few weeks. The number of people being hospitalized for COVID-19 is rising too. The three-day average of COVID patients in Massachusetts hospitals is up 46 percent since hitting a low earlier this summer.

This all comes against the backdrop of confusing messaging from the president, who was released from the hospital Monday while still being treated for the coronavirus, and publicly pulled his mask off before going back into the White House.

We take your calls and speak to Dr. Helen Boucher, Chief of the Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Tufts Medical Center, and a professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine.